Jeff Teague posted a cryptic picture on Instagram and people jumped to conclusions

The upcoming offseason for the Atlanta Hawks has many layers, but high on the list is the inevitable decision between Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder. It seems wildly clear at this stage that the Hawks won't be able to move forward with both point guards on the roster for the long-term, and as such, speculation is already rampant about what the team might choose to do via trade this summer.

On Monday morning, Jeff Teague posted this to his Instagram feed and, well, it generated some whispers. Note that his IG is set to private, so this is (obviously) a screen-shot:

Jeff just posted this on Instagram. He's denied prior posts having any meaning. But yeah pic.twitter.com/csGv7uRrod

— Hawks Nation (@ATLHawkNation) May 9, 2016

To be fair, Atlanta's season ended on Sunday, meaning that Teague could simply be referencing the end of the campaign and a well-deserved break from basketball. However, that is considerably less entertaining than what many people have assumed, and the fact that the veteran point guard did not appear on the court for a single second of the fourth quarter during the Game 4 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers won't discourage folks from taking the leap.

Jeff Teague is under contract for $8 million for the 2016-2017 season and the Hawks don't have to make a point guard move before the start of the next campaign. However, there will be a ton of discussion about this topic in the next two months, and Teague may have inadvertently kick-started the rumor mill early.