Hawks face potentially significant 'risk' with Clint Capela entering 2024-25

Many Atlanta Hawks players have come up in trade rumors in recent months, up to and including three-time All-Star.

The Hawks have already undergone a significant facelift, trading Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans for a package of players and picks. Hawks general manager Landry Fields has made some minor deals since then.

Fields has also said he is fine taking this group (before those minor tweaks) into the year.

That makes sense given the difference Murray’s absence figures to have. But it also comes with an inherent risk that will only increase as the year progresses.

“Clint Capela has been a rock-solid starting center for the Atlanta Hawks the past four years, although future financial restrictions and the emergence of Onyeka Okongwu could be spelling the end for the veteran center in the ATL,” Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz wrote in an article considering potential “flight risks” from September 2.

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“The Hawks are currently committing $51 million to the center position this season between Capela, Okongwu, Larry Nance Jr., and Cody Zeller, however, and are just $1.2 million below the luxury tax line.”

The Hawks signed Okongwu, the No. 6 overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, to a four-year, $61.9 million contract extension in October 2023. 

Capela’s two-year, $46 million pact is expiring.

“At some point, Okongwu needs to become the starting center in Atlanta,” Swartz wrote “Re-signing Capela, as good of a player as he is, no longer makes sense for the Hawks unless he takes a significant pay cut.” 

Swartz also points to the $85-plus million the Hawks will owe to Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and De’Andre Hunter in 2025-26 as well as Jalen Johnson’s looming contract situation.

“Expect the 30-year-old to pursue a starting job elsewhere,” Swartz wrote.

True risk for Hawks is losing Clint Capela for nothing

Legendary baseball manager Branch Rickey once said it is better to trade a player one year too early rather than one year too late. That adage could certainly apply to the Hawks and Capela, who is coming off a bounce-back campaign in terms of durability.

He also took a step back offensively.

Capela averaged a points-rebounds double-double for the seventh straight season. But his 59% true shooting mark was the third-worst mark of his career, per Basketball Reference.

Capela was linked to the Dallas Mavericks and, more recently, the Pelicans in trade rumors. But the Hawks did not want to part with the 2020-21 rebound champion in the Murray trade, per The Athletic’s Will Guillory in July.

The Hawks are already trying to thread the needle retooling around Young.

They do not have a clear-cut No. 2 star, though Johnson is it if he stays healthy. The Hawks also landed the No. 1 pick of the draft in the most disparaged class in recent memory.

Capela appeared in 73 games in 2023-24, a step up from his 65 appearances the year before and the fourth-most appearances he has logged in a single season. The 30-year-old center has also dealt with knee issues in recent seasons, though they were not a big issue in 2023-24.

For Fields, Capela’s value as a leader could outweigh the return for him in a trade.

Okongwu (6-foot-8) is also undersized for the position full time while Zeller (6-foot-11) is not a starting-caliber center. Capela (6-foot-10) remains the most appealing starting option on paper.

That does not mean Okongwu cannot make a big impact, especially if the Hawks lean into their newfound small-ball potential with him, Johnson, No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher, and Murray trade return piece Dyson Daniels.