Houston Rockets ship Clint Capela to Atlanta Hawks in four-team deal
Wednesday 5 February 2020 08:55, UK
The Houston Rockets have reportedly finally found a trade partner for center Clint Capela, but it took two more teams and a whole lot of other players to ultimately make it happen.
Less than 48 hours before the NBA's trade deadline, the Rockets agreed to part with Capela in the early Wednesday night as part of a reported four-team, 12-player trade that also involves two draft picks.
The details of the swap, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski:
The Houston Rockets get: Robert Covington (from Minnesota), Jordan Bell (from Minnesota).
The Atlanta Hawks get: Clint Capela (from Houston), Nene (from Houston).
The Minnesota Timberwolves get: Malik Beasley (from Denver), Jarred Vanderbilt (from Denver), Juancho Hernangomez (from Denver), Evan Turner (from Atlanta), the Brooklyn Nets' 2020 first-round pick (from Atlanta).
The Denver Nuggets get: Gerald Green (from Houston), Noah Vonleh (from Minnesota), Shabazz Napier (from Minnesota), Keita Bates-Diop (from Minnesota), a first-round pick (from Houston).
There are also reports that the Rockets will receive a second-round pick, though not all reports include that in the deal.
Green has not played this season because of a broken foot, but is waiving his right to veto being included in the trade, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.
According to the report, he is expected to be waived by the Nuggets and continue rehabbing.
But the biggest names in the deal - and the ones expected to have the largest immediate impacts on their new teams - are Capela and Covington.
Capela, 25, had been rumoured in trade discussions for weeks now. He has missed three of the past four games with a heel injury but is averaging 13.9 points and a career-best 9.5 rebounds per game.
The primary reason the Rockets were looking to move the 6ft 10in center was his contract. He is in the second year of a five-year, $90m deal and is due $16m next season, followed by $17.1m and $18.2m in the two seasons after that.
Covington, 29, is averaging 12.8 points and six rebounds this season, and he is shooting a career-best 43.5 per cent from the floor while making more than two three-pointers per game. The 6ft 7in swingman could fit in nicely alongside James Harden and Russell Westbrook in coach Mike D'Antoni's offense.
In dealing both Capela and Nene, however, the Rockets are now without a true center - or anything really close to one. According to multiple reports, Houston will play 6ft 5in, 34-year-old swingman PJ Tucker at center.
Newly acquired Bell is 6ft 8in and plays center. However, he is having perhaps the worst of his three seasons in the league, sitting on career-low averages in points (3.1), minutes (8.7), steals (0.1) and blocks (0.4).
