The Golden State Warriors may have found the perfect situation to bring in a veteran center, something they’ve been looking for on the market.
On Monday, Forbes’ Evan Sidery reported on an interesting development coming out of Atlanta.
“The Hawks are canvassing the trade market utilizing Clint Capela’s $22.3 million expiring contract for a rotational upgrade,” Sidery said.
“Atlanta is in a position to become buyers only 2.5 games out of the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.”
It just so happens that a straight-up swap of Andrew Wiggins for Capela would work financially.
The question is, would the Hawks be interested enough in Wiggins to make that deal?
It depends on what Atlanta is looking for when it says “rotational upgrades,” which is a hard code to decipher considering the Hawks have a pretty balanced roster. If anything, they’d be in need of another big once they traded Capela.
Wiggins would certainly be a great wing to have alongside Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels, and he’d be an upgrade over rookie Zaccharie Risacher, at least for the time being.
This deal would be perfect for the Warriors because they could basically use Capela as a rental and use the cap space his departure provides to help fund Jonathan Kuminga’s new contract this summer, if the Dubs end up deciding to retain Kuminga.
Capela, the NBA’s leading rebounder in 2021, would provide Golden State with the board boss they’ve been missing for years.
If the Warriors could move on from the trade deadline having acquired both Dennis Schröer and Capela, they’d have to see that as a huge win. Losing Wiggins wouldn’t hurt much due to Kuminga being able to take on a lot of those minutes.
More NBA: Celtics could cut ties with $60 million All-Star via trade to Rockets
