The Atlanta Hawks are anticipated to lose a key participant within the low season.
At the moment rating because the No. 7 seed within the Jap Convention, the Atlanta Hawks made strikes on the previous commerce deadline which concerned two of their key items.
It started after they traded De’Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers, earlier than sending Bogdan Bogdanovic to the Los Angeles Clippers.
As soon as the offseason hits, they’re in line to see one other exit, from their longtime middle in Clint Capela.
The run of Clint Capela with the Atlanta Hawks is presumed to achieve conclusion proper after this season.
In accordance with HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, there may be an “early expectation” that the massive man will depart the staff and signal elsewhere as soon as he enters the unrestricted free company market this upcoming summer time.
He wrote: “After being benched in favor of Onyeka Okongwu and dangled in commerce talks earlier than the deadline, the early expectation is Hawks middle Clint Capela will signal elsewhere in unrestricted free company this summer time, league sources advised HoopsHype.”
Capela holds an expiring $22.2 million contract. He was part of the Hawks because the 2019-20 midseason when the franchise acquired him in a multi-team deal from the Houston Rockets.
An athletic huge man, Capela imposed himself as a strong rebounding and defensive anchor in his first few years as a Hawk. He additionally shaped a formidable pick-and-roll pairing with franchise guard Trae Younger.
But proper after his first full season with them in 2020-21, Capela’s fortunes regressed. Partly as a result of he shares the staff’s middle duties with Onyeka Okungwu, his on-court publicity decreased 12 months by 12 months whereas his manufacturing has been stagnant.
This 2024-25 serves because the least productive one for the Swiss huge in Atlanta, tallying 8.9 factors and eight.5 boards in 21.4 minutes throughout 55 video games (41 begins).
Contemplating that he’s set to grow to be a free agent in 2025 offseason, we will solely anticipate Capela to be pursued by a number of key groups determined for a middle, most notably the Los Angeles Lakers. Jeff Teague not too long ago tipped the massive man as a superb match carrying purple and gold.
The Lakers have discovered it problematic when it comes to their middle depth. With Anthony Davis’ departure from the groundbreaking Luka Doncic mega deal, LA presents solely Jaxson Hayes as its most viable choice out there.
The Lakers certainly made efforts to deal with their middle wants after they traded for Mark Williams. But infamously, the deal was vetoed after it was decided that the Charlotte Hornets huge man had medical points the Lakers weren’t comfy with.
For this botched commerce, Los Angeles pulled an emergency middle signing by securing Alex Len. However the former lottery huge man is solely disappointing, igniting uproar throughout Lakeshow fanbase from his previous couple of video games.
Going after Capela would require loads of evaluation for the Lakers, like if the veteran middle can nonetheless revive his outdated productiveness and channel his outdated days of paint dominance for the Rockets.
However with Doncic and LeBron James working the present, there can be alternative for Capela to probably be aggressive and lively once more ought to he be a part of the Lakers.
