The NBA offseason began in earnest with a three-team trade on the eve of the draft sending Jeff Teague to the Indiana Pacers, George Hill to the Utah Jazz and the 12th overall pick to the Atlanta Hawks.

On the surface, it is a win for all three teams as the Pacers slightly upgrade at point guard, the Jazz definitely upgrade at point guard and the Hawks acquire a lottery pick, albeit in a weak draft, for a player that was no longer in their plans.

Teague is a great fit at point guard for a team that runs their offense around Paul George. Teague is one of the NBA’s best catch-and-shoot players and has proven himself capable of playing with other ball dominant players. This will be the case even more with the Pacers than it was previously with George and Monta Ellis.

The Pacers want to play faster and they now have a point guard actually capable of running an offense in Teague, which they didn't have in Hill, Ellis and Rodney Stuckey.

But for the improvement the Pacers will obtain on offense, their backcourt defense with Teague and Ellis becomes incredibly problematic. The Pacers ranked just 24th in offense last season and that number will surely increase, but it is also likely they fall from their spot as third in defense. Indiana’s defense at the point of attack was always excellent with Hill and that will now be a liability with Teague.

The Pacers have been obsessed with improving their offense and it is a gamble that Teague instead of Hill will make a big enough difference while clearly damaging their defense.

Grade for Pacers: C-

The Jazz desperately needed a point guard last season when Dante Exum tore his ACL and they never were able to get a deal done and instead ended up just missing the playoffs.

Utah already has excellent shot creators on the wing in Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood, so the addition of Hill gives the Pacers a plus defender that shot 40.8 percent from three last season on more than 300 attempts.

The Jazz get to compete for a playoff spot for one season of Hill and figure out what they have in Exum. Utah can also play Hill and Exum together in case they decide both players will be part of their core into Hills’ thirties. If the Jazz can re-sign Hill on a team friendly deal, he would be an excellent 6th man as his minutes are reduced.

With Hill, Exum, Hayward and Hood, the Jazz have four players at guard and on the wing that can all handle the ball and have enough length to switch onto anyone as they’re similarly sized players. Assuming health with Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert up front, the Jazz should have at least a top-5 defense in 16-17, improving upon their ranking as seventh this past season.

Giving up a lottery pick for a 30-year-old complementary player under contract for just one more season does feel like an expensive cost but the Jazz have a ton of future traded picks incoming and they really can’t afford to keep missing the playoffs with this core.

Grade for Jazz: A-

The Hawks weren’t going to re-sign Teague if they kept him until his free agency in 2017 and they instead turn a 28-year-old point guard who is about to get very expensive into a late lottery pick. 

Atlanta was moving on from Teague to Dennis Schroder for a while now, even playing Schroder down the stretch of playoff games. Schroder is five years younger than Teague and he will be far easier and cheaper to retain. Atlanta can sign him to an extension this summer or go through restricted free agency next offseason.

It was unrealistic to expect the Hawks to be able to turn Jeff Teague before his walk year into someone like Nerlens Noel.

Another added benefit of the trade for the Hawks is that it creates more cap space this offseason, which makes re-signing Kent Bazemore and Al Horford more manageable from a financial standpoint. The Hawks will have to use cap space to re-sign Bazemore and trading away Teague makes keeping him far easier.

Atlanta did an excellent job drafting Teague at 19th overall in 2009, having him eventually take over for the aging Mike Bibby in 2011, extend him on a team-friendly deal and now they've converted him into a new, cheap asset on a rookie deal.

Grade for Hawks: A