Professional athletes — current and former — using their hard-earned millions to dabble into franchise ownership has become normalized in recent years whether it’s LeBron James and the Boston Red Sox, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Royals or Tom Brady and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Jeff Teague, who played 12 seasons in the NBA including one with the Boston Celtics, would love to be the next ex-athlete turned team owner. When discussing Brady’s recent part-ownership purchase of the Raiders, Teague began daydreaming of dumping an immense load of cash to purchase the Atlanta Hawks — who were valued at an estimated $3.25 billion in 2023, per Forbes.
“If I hit the lottery for $500 million or something, I’m giving $100 million to the Hawks,” Teague revealed on the “Club 520 Podcast.” “I wanna be part owner. Easy, like I wanna be of this. But damn, for (Brady) to do that, that’s dope. Yeah, it’s dope.”
Teague added: “I couldn’t imagine having $40 million to give to somebody.”
Atlanta selected Teague 19th overall in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft and kept the 6-foot-3 guard around for seven seasons to begin his career. Teague returned for one final run with the Hawks in 2019-20 — just before signing with the Celtics — and ended a 543-game-long run averaging 11.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists with Atlanta. He was named an All-Star in 2014-15, averaging 15.9 points on 46% shooting from the field and finished ninth in Most Improved Player of the Year voting two years prior.
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Tony Ressler is the current principal owner of the Hawks and led the franchise’s last purchase (in 2015) for $850 million.
Featured image via Justin Ford/Imagn Images
