The Atlanta Hawks have matched the offer sheet signed by free-agent point guard Jeff Teague, a league source confirmed to FOXSportsWisconsin.com on Saturday evening.
Teague, 25, signed a four-year, $32 million offer sheet with the Milwaukee Bucks late Wednesday night, giving Atlanta until Saturday night to match.
While Teague was hopeful the Hawks would let him reunite with Bucks coach Larry Drew, who was hired in may as the new Bucks coach ater spending the previous three seasons leading the Hawks, Atlanta decided it would keep its starting point guard, sending the Bucks back to square one in their search for a floor general.
Teague averaged 14.6 points and 7.2 assists per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 35.9 percent on 3-pointers last season for the Atlanta Hawks.
Milwaukee may now move on to trying to bring Brandon Jennings back into the fold. With the market pretty dry for point guards, the Bucks might be the only team still looking for a starting point guard.
Jennings, 23, hasn’t had too much luck on the open market and has a couple of options with the Bucks. As a restricted free agent, Milwaukee could match any offer sheet Jennings signs with another team, but Jennings also could accept the one-year, $4 million qualifying offer to return to the Bucks.
Having spent his entire four-year career in Milwaukee, Jennings has averaged 17.0 points and 5.7 assists in 291 games with the Bucks. Last season, Jennings averaged 17.5 points and 6.5 assists per game while shooting 39.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent on 3-pointers.
The remaining pool of free-agent point guards drops off after Jennings, as Nate Robinson, Beno Udrih and Mo Williams are the top point guards still on the market.
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