Jeff Teague Says Going to the Timberwolves 'Ruined' His Career

Former NBA All-Star point guard and current podcaster Jeff Teague has made it clear multiple times in recent years that he never wanted to play for the Timberwolves, who he spent parts of three seasons with from 2017-20. His most recent criticism of the franchise is his harshest.

"They ruined my career," Teague said on a recent collaboration episode between his show (Club 520) and The Young Man and The Three. "I shouldn't have went there."

How, exactly, did the Wolves ruin his career?

"You gotta think, I made it to the playoffs every year before that," Teague said. "Got there, made it to the playoffs. Then my second year, we was the worst team in the league, one of 'em. And then once you on a bad team, and you're a little older, and you don't get traded to a playoff team, they trade you to another bad team, it just starts going downhill."

Teague did in fact make the playoffs in each of his first seven seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, although they made only one conference finals appearance in that span. He made the playoffs with the Pacers in 2017 after being traded. And he then cashed in with the biggest contract of his career: a three-year, $57 million deal with the Wolves.

Teague has said that he didn't want to go to Minnesota, instead preferring to stay with Indiana. It's hard to feel much sympathy for a guy who chose to sign with the Wolves for $19 million per year.

In Teague's first year with the Timberwolves, he was one of several veteran additions — along with Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, and Jamal Crawford — who joined Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins and helped Minnesota make the postseason for the first time in 14 years.

Jeff Teague in the 2018 playoffs | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The next year, Butler held the franchise hostage and forced a trade in extremely messy fashion, and the Wolves finished 36-46 (they were bad, but hardly the worst team in the league). In 2019-20, the Wolves were awful, going 19-45. Teague was traded back to the Hawks that January. That season worked out nicely for Minnesota, as they won the ensuing lottery and landed Anthony Edwards.

"That s*** was terrible," Teague said of his time with the Wolves. "We had that first year. After that, we were some s***. That first year was fun. Then Jimmy that second year...wow."

The idea that being on a couple bad Wolves teams "ruined" Teague's career is tough to believe. He was out of the league at 32 years old after the 2020-21 season. If he had been good enough to keep playing effectively into his mid-30s, he would've. That wasn't Minnesota's fault.

Teague got paid handsomely by the Timberwolves and is now a successful podcaster, so everything has worked out for him. It also turned out well for the Wolves, who have made five straight postseason appearances in the Edwards era.

Teague's Rubio/Taylor story

On the same podcast, Teague shared an amusing story from the very start of his Wolves tenure. He said that on the first day he arrived in Minnesota in 2017, then-owner Glen Taylor gave him quite the welcome message.

"I remember I got to Minnesota and the owner at the time came up to me — this the first day, I'm about to sign — he said 'Man, you better get us to the playoffs because I traded my favorite player for you, and I don't know you,'" Teague said.

It turns out the player in question was Ricky Rubio, who the Wolves had traded to the Jazz that offseason after six years as a bit of a folk hero in Minnesota. Teague was taken aback and a bit surprised by Taylor's reaction, given that Rubio wasn't exactly a star.

He also said it was that interaction that led to him committing a flagrant foul on Rubio in the fourth quarter of a March 2018 game in Utah.

"It wasn't even his fault, it was the owner's fault," Teague said. "I was like you like this guy? I'ma show him something."

That's a humorous story and also one of countless examples of Taylor being a bad owner. The Wolves are in a much healthier place now under Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.

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