Former NBA player Jeff Teague made the All-Star team once in his career in 2015 and while many would look back fondly at that moment, he does not. During an appearance on the Out The Mud Podcast, Teague explained why he wished he wasn’t selected to the team that year.
“That was a huge accomplishment, man,” Teague said. “I was so hyped to make that team but I wish I didn’t make it. I’m saying that because I got comfortable. I was on a hunt. Once I got the money, I wanted to be an All-Star, I was on a hunt. I was at everybody. We was winning.
“When I made the All-Star team, at that time I was averaging like 20,” Teague continued. I was on the hunt. After that, I was good. I started saying what Smoove (Josh Smith) was saying, it’s time to get paid.”
Teague just lost his motivation to get better after becoming an All-Star. He didn’t have the same drive to get better as he once had and instead, wanted to get a better deal from the Atlanta Hawks.
If we take a look at Teague’s numbers in the 2014-15 season before and after it was announced on Jan. 29, 2015, that he made the All-Star team, there is a notable difference.
In the 42 games Teague played that season before that date, he averaged 17.0 points, 2.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks for the Hawks. In the 31 games after the announcement, he put up 14.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
That’s a somewhat significant drop in terms of points and assists when you consider we’re talking about the same season here. So, Teague basically accomplished his goal of being an All-Star and just didn’t have the motivation to go as hard as he once did.
The Hawks as a team stumbled after that date as well. They had a 38-8 record on Jan. 29 but went 22-14 the rest of the way to finish 60-22. The Hawks did make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, however, where the Cleveland Cavaliers swept them.
Getting back to Teague, he never came close to making the All-Star team again and his averages kept dipping in the years that followed. He became a bench player by 2020 and retired the very next year at the age of 33.
Teague finished his career with averages of 12.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game. You wonder how much better these would have been had he not lost motivation.
Jeff Teague Revealed LeBron James Told Him He’d Figured Out The Hawks At All-Star Weekend
The Hawks were rolling teams over in the first half of that 2014-15 season but LeBron James wasn’t too worried about facing them in the playoffs. Teague revealed James told him at All-Star weekend that he had figured them out.
“I swear to God, All-Star, he told me—we swept them in the regular season, beat them by 25 every game. He came to me, and he was like, ‘I figured y’all out.’… I said, ‘You figured us out?’ Man, all he did was run a 3-1 pick-and-roll. He bring me up there, set it again, back me down, get to the free-throw line, and shoot over me. If somebody helped, throw it top J.R. Smith or Kevin Love, three.”
“I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s over. He figured this out.’ There’s no way I can guard Bron. What the f**k are we gonna do?”
The teams had actually only faced off three times at that stage, with the Hawks winning on each occasion. They would sweep the season series a couple of weeks after the break but the tables were turned in the playoffs.
The Cavaliers breezed past the Hawks and then swept them the next year too. As James stated, he had figured them out.
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