Teddy Allen released by Winnipeg Sea Bears

The reigning CEBL Player of the Year has been released from the Winnipeg Sea Bears.

The team announced on Monday that Teddy Allen has been released “effective immediately.”

“Teddy Allen has been a valued member of our team, and we sincerely appreciate his contributions during his tenure with the Sea Bears. However, after careful consideration and many discussions, it has become evident that there is a misalignment of values and vision of the path forward for the club,” said Mike Taylor, the head coach and general manager, in a news release.

Allen has been the leading point-getter for the Sea Bears through eight games this season, tallying 225 points, which included 26 three-pointers.

In his most recent performance on Sunday, he scored 39 points, but Winnipeg lost their fourth straight game 97-87 to the Edmonton Stingers.

Speaking to the media Monday afternoon, Taylor said there have been a number of incidents lately, which started with Allen being ejected from a game against Niagara.

“For the last 10 days, we have had several circumstances arise. We don’t want to get into those details. He’s been fined by the league, he’s been fined by our team internally. I can assure you, personally, I have spent so much time trying to help Teddy. Our organization has done everything we possibly can to try to help him – teammates, the whole organization has done everything on multiple levels to try and get him back within the team, within the structure, within the system. Unfortunately, here we are today,” said Taylor.

He added the team is about teamwork and hard work, and felt Allen was outside that at times.

The Sea Bears currently sit last in the Western Division with a 3-5 record and have been outscored by 60 points.

During the teams’ loss on Sunday, tensions rose between Allen and some of his teammates on the court and bench.

Taylor was asked if those incidents were the breaking point for the team.

“I don’t want to get into the details of the specific breaking point, but that’s a byproduct of it all. I think it all starts there. We have a player who is positioned as a go-to player, as a leader for our team on the court, playing individually and outside the system.”

He said there has been internal “unrest” among the team.

Team president Jason Smith said this was a decision where the team wanted to stick to their values.

“When we started this organization, we spoke at the outset about (how) we want it to be a positive influence on the city. We wanted to be respectful, we wanted to provide an outlet for local players, and we just needed to, I think, put ourselves in a spot where we were upholding those values,” said Smith.

He noted one player is not bigger than the team and the decision had to be made to move forward in a positive direction.

Smith also clarified that this decision was not just made on how the team was doing in the standings.

“This was a decision that was predicated on a larger set of issues that were happening that we felt like were unsustainable long-term, and were affecting the team as a whole behind the scenes and on the court.”