Should Mavs Circle Back to Hawks on Clint Capela Trade?
As the Dallas Mavericks continue their search for a veteran starting center, one team they should probably circle back to is the Atlanta Hawks. According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, the Mavs attempted to trade for Clint Capela around the NBA Draft, but the two sides weren't able to come to any kind of agreement.
"The Mavericks asked for Clint Capela," MacMahon said on an episode of The Hoop Collective. "My understanding is the Hawks asked for the Mavericks to throw in Josh Green or Jaden Hardy, which that's a no-go. Those are young players that the Mavericks really like."
Since then, the Hawks have added a couple of young talents in TyTy Washington Jr. and Usman Garuba in what was basically a salary-dump trade with the Houston Rockets. Now that the Hawks have Washington and Garuba, perhaps they wouldn't be as insistent on the Mavs including Jaden Hardy or Josh Green in a potential deal for Capela.
As good as Capela still is – he averaged 12 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 65.3 percent from the field last season – he's 29 years old, and 22-year-old, up-and-coming Hawks big man Onyeka Okongwu is likely due for a promotion into Atlanta's starting lineup.
It's no secret that the Mavs have been shopping Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee in trade talks. With Atlanta getting their two younger pieces from Houston, and Okongwu poised to be the younger replacement for Capela at some point, perhaps a straight-up swap of Hardaway and McGee for Capela could work for both sides.
If not, the Mavs still have several opportunities that could open up in the next week or so, depending on what other trades go down around the league. This is certainly one we'll be keeping our eyes on until then, though.
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