The Atlanta Hawks are expected to lose a key player in the off-season.
Currently ranking as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks made moves at the past trade deadline which involved two of their key pieces.
It began when they traded De’Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers, before sending Bogdan Bogdanovic to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Once the offseason hits, they are in line to see another exit, from their longtime center in Clint Capela.
The run of Clint Capela with the Atlanta Hawks is presumed to reach conclusion right after this season.
According to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, there is an “early expectation” that the big man will leave the team and sign elsewhere once he enters the unrestricted free agency market this upcoming summer.
He wrote: “After being benched in favor of Onyeka Okongwu and dangled in trade talks before the deadline, the early expectation is Hawks center Clint Capela will sign elsewhere in unrestricted free agency this summer, league sources told HoopsHype.”
Capela holds an expiring $22.2 million contract. He was a part of the Hawks since the 2019-20 midseason when the franchise acquired him in a multi-team deal from the Houston Rockets.
An athletic big man, Capela imposed himself as a solid rebounding and defensive anchor in his first few years as a Hawk. He also formed a formidable pick-and-roll pairing with franchise guard Trae Young.
Yet right after his first full season with them in 2020-21, Capela’s fortunes regressed. Partly because he shares the team’s center duties with Onyeka Okungwu, his on-court exposure reduced year by year while his production has been stagnant.
This 2024-25 serves as the least productive one for the Swiss big in Atlanta, tallying 8.9 points and 8.5 boards in 21.4 minutes across 55 games (41 starts).
Considering that he is set to become a free agent in 2025 offseason, we can only expect Capela to be pursued by several key teams desperate for a center, most notably the Los Angeles Lakers. Jeff Teague recently tipped the big man as a good fit wearing purple and gold.
The Lakers have found it problematic in terms of their center depth. With Anthony Davis’ departure from the groundbreaking Luka Doncic mega deal, LA presents only Jaxson Hayes as its most viable option available.
The Lakers indeed made efforts to address their center needs when they traded for Mark Williams. Yet infamously, the deal was vetoed after it was determined that the Charlotte Hornets big man had medical issues the Lakers were not comfortable with.
For this botched trade, Los Angeles pulled an emergency center signing by securing Alex Len. But the former lottery big man is simply disappointing, igniting uproar across Lakeshow fanbase from his past couple of games.
Going after Capela will require plenty of assessment for the Lakers, like if the veteran center can still revive his old productivity and channel his old days of paint dominance for the Rockets.
But with Doncic and LeBron James running the show, there would be opportunity for Capela to potentially be aggressive and active again should he join the Lakers.
