If you thought the Atlanta Hawks were going to just give Al Horford and Jeff Teague away, think again.
From CSN New England:
Chris Mannix believes Horford would be a perfect fit with the Celtics, but the price tag might be standing in the way.
“From everything I’ve been told in the last two or three days, Atlanta’s requests for both Al Horford and Jeff Teague have been borderline ridiculous,” explained Mannix. “The kind of things teams like Boston, or Milwaukee, or Denver simply won’t deal for the players they want.
“Things like this tend to cool off though. As we get close to the deadline – when we get to the 17th, when we get to the 18th – that’s when the real horse trading begins. That’s when Danny Ainge will know if Atlanta is really serious about trading Al Horford.”
There’s almost nothing to add here. Mannix hits the nail right on the head. The trade deadline is still nearly a week away, and general managers will be demanding the world for their most prized assets until, quite frankly, they don’t have the option of demanding the world. And that happens in the 11th hour, as the 3 p.m. ET deadline approaches.
The asking price for Teague might not ever fall. He is still under contract after this season for another year, during which he will make a ridiculously reasonable $8 million. Even though the Hawks have a starter’s-caliber logjam with Teague and Dennis Schroder, they don’t have to reinvest in that core until after next year.
Horford is a different story. He is a superstar making role player money ($12 million) but headed for free agency and should command $10 million-plus more per year than he’s earning now. That bilks the Hawks of most of their leverage, since Horford is either a flight risk or expensive acquisition for his next team. If Atlanta is serious about moving him, about capitalizing on his departure, the asking price will drop in the coming days.
