It may have taken 15 years longer than Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens may have wanted, but he finally landed Jeff Teague.
Finally, the two are on the same side.
In an interview with NBC Sports Boston, Teague, who signed with the Celtics this past offseason after Stevens assisted with his recruitment, revealed that the two have a long, unknown history.
According to the guard, while completing his high school basketball career in his native Indianapolis, Stevens — who was coaching at Butler University at the time — was hot on Teague’s trail. Ranked among the top point guards in the class, Stevens tried unsuccessfully to get Teague to commit to Butler University, but the point guard ultimately landed at Wake Forest.
Still, one encounter with Stevens, Teague says, saved his life.
For years, the young guard had been hiding his report cards (and low grades) from his parents, and a stern talking-to from Stevens convinced Teague to take his academics as seriously as his performance on the basketball court.
According to Teague, Stevens told Teague in unequivocal terms that he wouldn’t make it to college, much less the NBA, unless he brought his grades up, and Stevens also blew the whistle on the young guard, notifying Teague’s father of his son’s poor performance in the classroom.
Thereafter, Teague got his act together and played two standout years at Wake Forest before being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 2009.
Now entering his 12th NBA season, Teague’s amassed about $97 million in career earnings, so it’s probably safe to say he owes his new coach some commission.
Teague tells the story in his own words to NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg.
“I knew Brad since high school, he actually changed my whole life, basically… Because I had a path that I wasn’t really focused on school as much. I played basketball, obviously, but school wasn’t my favorite thing to do. So he pulled me into a room at Butler as a sophomore in front of my dad and he basically showed him my grades. I had been hiding report cards for some years. And basically just told me, ‘If you want the opportunity to play college basketball, you have to bring your grades up.’ And my dad not seeing my grades for a couple of years, he was pretty mad about that.”
Since then, Teague says, he’s had a heartfelt appreciation for Stevens. The two have been competing against one another in the NBA since Stevens was hired by the Celtics in 2013, and Teague has often made it his point of duty to tell the coach to his face that he saved his life. Stevens has mostly dismissed the praise as overly dramatic.
To Teague, however, there’s an incredible amount of gratitude.
“I had to get my act together… And every time we play the Celtics in the past I would tell Brad, ‘Hey, thank you for saving my life,’ and he would look at me like shut up, whatever man…”
Perhaps it’s serendipity, but 15 years after the life-changing chat, Teague will finally have the opportunity to play for Stevens.
Maybe now, in the NBA, they can change each other’s lives for the better. Maybe, just maybe, a championship can be brought to Boston that’s been in the making for more than a decade.
Check out Forsberg’s story at NBCSports.com.
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