The Atlanta Hawks have been playing above expectations to start the 2024-25 season; they may have suffered brutal losses to the Washington Wizards, and they're coming off a rough 30-point loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, but overall, the Hawks have emerged as one of the most exciting young teams in the NBA, taking a 13-12 record into their NBA Cup clash against the New York Knicks on Wednesday.
This has caused a bit of a twist in the tale with regards to the Hawks' plans on the trade market. Expected to be among the teams selling and pivoting to a youth movement, the emergence of Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels, among others, has made Atlanta competitive earlier than expected — which could then lead to a shift in plans.
Nevertheless, there may be room for the Hawks to walk the fine line between remaining competitive and being able to sell off at least one of their veteran pieces that may not be long for the team anyway. To that end, this is the player the Hawks must still look into trading, although the catch is that there may not be much of a market for this player.
Hawks have to let go of the Clint Capela era
Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela (15) dunks the ball on Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) during the second half during a play-in game of the 2024 NBA playoffs at United Center.
David Banks-Imagn Images
When the Hawks brought Clint Capela into the team back in 2020, there was a concerted effort for the team to improve their defense while giving Trae Young an incredible pick-and-roll dance partner. But that was four years ago; Capela is evidently in the decline, with the team slowly phasing him out as their main man in the middle.
Heading into their NBA Cup quarterfinals game against the Knicks, Capela is averaging the fewest minutes per game of his Hawks tenure, with head coach Quin Snyder only giving him 22.7 minutes a night. In fact, since emerging as a starting-quality big man with the Houston Rockets in the 2015-16 season, this is the second fewest minutes per game average of the rim-running center's career.
The center position for the Hawks has been in a timeshare since 2021, with Onyeka Okongwu strengthening his case for more minutes with each passing year. Okongwu is also the more versatile defensive big man, and he has been more brazen in stepping out to the three-point line — a major boost for the team.
As a result of the decline in minutes and the gradual phasing out of him as the team's starting center, Capela is averaging the worst numbers of his career since the 2016-17 season, and now that he's 30 years old, he is only expected to get worse from here.
This then makes it imperative for the Hawks to trade Capela away; not only is he on the decline and his importance to the team has been waning, he is also in the final year of his contract, making $22.3 million. It is for the Hawks' best to get something of value for Capela instead of losing him for nothing in free agency.
But the problem is that there may not be much demand on the trade market for a declining rim-running big man who's making that much money. Comparable players such as Daniel Gafford and Mitchell Robinson, just to name a few, are making just a little over half of what Capela is earning, and while Gafford did net the Washington Wizards a first-round pick in return, he was under contract for multiple seasons and is younger than Capela by four years.
So in the end, there isn't much the Hawks can do other than, perhaps, wait for an injury to another team's starting center (which obviously no one wants to happen) which could then make the prospect of a Capela trade that much more appealing.
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A brief rundown of Atlanta's other trade assets
Atlanta Hawks forward De'Andre Hunter (12) reacts after making a three point shot in the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.
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Larry Nance Jr. may be a perfectly logical trade candidate, but the Hawks have been adamant in keeping him in town even though he's on the final year of his deal. Bogdan Bogdanovic might be of interest to other contending teams, but his reasonable contract and plug-and-play skillset makes him a perfectly worthwhile player to keep for the Hawks.
This leaves De'Andre Hunter; it's no secret that the Hawks have been shopping Hunter for a while now, although they have found it difficult to find a taker considering the near $70 million that remains in his contract that runs until the 2026-27 season. Hunter, however, has been playing well anyway so it's not as if Atlanta is in any desperation to move him right this second, even though the prospect of getting his contract off the books sounds rather appealing.