Finances, not sentimentality, guided the Atlanta Hawks’ decisions at the deadline. That includes trading Cody Zeller to the Houston Rockets for the draft rights to Alpha Kaba. With that out of the way, let’s dish out some grades for this understated move.
The Hawks sent Zeller to the Houston Rockets – along with the Rockets’ 2028 second-round pick – for the draft rights to 2017 Hawks second-rounder Alpha Kaba.
Kaba, 29, is a permanent draft-stash “prospect.”
This is the sixth time Kaba has been traded, either as a future draft pick or via his draft rights. The Hawks originally acquired the pick to select him in 2017 from the Philadelphia 76ers and traded his draft rights to the Rockets in 2023.
The Hawks received the pick they included with Zeller in that 2023 trade with the Rockets, which also yielded TyTy Washington and Usman Garuba.
This is a long way of showing the lengths the Hawks went to to avoid the luxury tax.
Zeller is in Year 1 of a three-year, $11 million contract. He could have been a useful piece for the Hawks. But both sides decided when Zeller arrived – as the final piece of the Dejounte Murray-to-New Orleans Pelicans trade during the 2024 offseason – that he would remain away.
Given the circumstances, the Hawks followed their plan and should even have a trade exception to show for it.
Perhaps they can be dinged for holding onto him for so long.
However, we will never know exactly what if any offers were on the table for Zeller. Again, it is possible the Hawks’ approach tipped teams off that they would be wiser to wait out general manager Landry Fields.
In the end, the Hawks “paid” to avoid the luxury tax. This move is hardly inspiring for the fans and probably the players on the roster.
The Hawks still achieved their goal.
Grade – C: Goal or not, it is difficult to give this move anything more than a middling grade. Without the ability to tank or the Hawks potentially emerging from the trade deadline a better team, middling is exactly where the Hawks seemed to have capped themselves this season.
Rockets get ‘paid’ to fill out roster
Zeller averaged 1.8 points and 2.6 rebounds last season, playing fewer than eight minutes per game. In 2022-23, when he played more than 14 minutes a night, he averaged 6.5 points on 62.7% eFG and 4.3 boards.
The Rockets had been a team linked to a deal for a center before the deadline, and they ended up getting a draft pick back to do it.
They only had to give up a player they were never going to see in their uniform and cap space.
And the Rockets plan to use Zeller, waiving former Boston Celtics first-round pick Jaden Springer to make room for the former Hawks pivot. There are few if any downsides to this move for the Rockets.
Grade – B: The Rockets have a glut of centers, including former Hawk Jock Landale. Still, getting paid to take on a useful player is easy to frame. Zeller also joins a team vying for the playoffs.