Blockbuster Three-Team Trade Proposal Sees Hawks Land Kyle Kuzma, Clint Capela to Wizards

How can Atlanta acquire the Wizards forward?

Apr 3, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) attempts to block the shot of Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma (33) at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday, it was reported by Action Network's Matt Moore that multiple teams have interest in trading for Clint Capela. One of those teams is apparently the Washington Wizards.

From Moore's column:

Clint Capela is a popular trade target with the Grizzlies, Wizards, Pelicans and Bulls having expressed interest."

While previous trade proposals have sent Capela and picks to the Wizards in exchange for Deni Avdjia, the Wizards might prefer to hang onto him. He finished sixth in Most Improved Player award voting because he averaged a career-best 14.7 pts, 7.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists on 50/37/74 shooting splits. He was especially good after the All-Star break and the Wizards might value him as Bilal Coulibaly's long-term frontcourt partner.

However, Avdija is not the only player on the Wizards that should attract interest from playoff hopefuls or contenders. Two of their other forwards, Kyle Kuzma and Corey Kispert, have skillsets that could fit within a playoff basketball context. Kuzma is more of a known entity, seeing as how he was a rotation player during the Lakers' 2020 championship run. His defensive effort is not quite where it was at in 2020, but he has taken on more of a scoring role for Washington. He averaged 22 points last year on a true shooting percentage of 54.7% while dishing out 3.8 dimes and grabbing 7 rebounds per game. Kispert is more of a bench scorer, but still averaged a career-best 13.4 points, 2.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds. The enticing parts of his profile are his 38.3% shooting percentage from three on an impressive six attempts per game and 90th percentile mark as a finisher around the rim.

Capela's fit on the Wizards from a basketball sense is somewhat murky. As noted earlier, the Wizards having interest in Capela is puzzling beause they're going through a rebuild. Capela would bring an defensive presence that current center Marvin Bagley III lacks, but the real reason for their interest might be as a contract. Capela's contract could land them picks and expires at the end of this year, meaning that he won't be a long-term commitment and hamper the Wizards from any future moves.

While getting both Kuzma and Kispert does not make a ton of sense for Atlanta, a three-team trade involving the Dallas Mavericks could fill a need for everyone. Fresh off their 4-1 loss to the Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals, the Mavericks should be looking for every avenue to improve the pieces around Luka Doncic. Unfortunately, they are somewhat limited by their cap space at the moment.

The details of the proposed three-team trade are below. It should be noted that this is just speculative and a fun exercise to see what kind of moves can be made, not what I think a team should definitely do. That is all.

Hawks get: Kyle Kuzma

Mavericks get: Corey Kispert

Washington gets: Clint Capela, Tim Hardaway Jr, 2025 second-round pick (via Minnesota), 2025 second-round pick (via Toronto), 2028 second-round pick (via Miami) and a 2029 first-round pick (top-12 protected)

The upside of this deal for Atlanta is that Kuzma is a fit on the roster regardless of whether they go forward (Sarr, Risacher) or center (Clingan) at the top of the draft. If they select Clingan and do this deal, his path to minutes is cleared by moving Capela out. Their forwards would then be Johnson, Kuzma, Hunter, Griffin and Bogdanovic. That is a group that gives Atlanta plenty of lineup options to throw at opponents. Selecting Risacher or Sarr and then doing this trade would allow Onyeka Okongwu to step into the starting center role.

Starting Kuzma and Johnson together should work well because Kuzma has shown the ability to play good defense in seasons past. I doubt he would be a defensive liability on a playoff contender like the Hawks would be. The one concern is that Kuzma is somewhat of a ball stopper - he held the ball for 3.32 seconds per touch last season. For some comparison, Julius Randle and Tobias Harris (who both have ball stopper reputations) held the ball for 3.15 and 3.2 seconds respectively. In a reduced role, though, I would not expect this to be much of a problem.

For the Mavericks, they are able to swap out Tim Hardaway Jr. for Corey Kispert. Kispert fills the same floor spacer role that Hardaway does while being younger and cheaper. On the whole, Hardaway was largely ineffective in the post-season (outside of Game 4 of the Finals). Kispert is not an amazing defender, but he's bigger and has more athletic juice than Hardaway at this point in his career. He could end up as a long-term piece of the Mavericks rotation if he continues to develop.

Washington gets picks for salary dumping Hardaway and Capela's contract. Barring a rebuild by the Hawks, there is a good chance that the pick will convey to Washington and they can use the second-rounders to move up for prospects that they are interested in. Both Capela and Hardaway hit free agency after this season, so there is no long-term cap ramifications for taking them onto their books.

Perhaps Washington would say no to the trade because they value Kispert more than two second-rounders and Kuzma to be worth more than two second-rounders and a first. There's a chance that Atlanta would not be interested in Kuzma due to his poor efficiency and lack of defensive effort last season. However, I think this move makes sense for all three teams because it fits their timelines. The Wizards want picks to use in their rebuild, the Mavericks want to upgrade the pieces around Luka without taking on more money and the Hawks want to get back into the playoffs in a relatively open Eastern Conference (assuming they don't trade Trae Young).

Whether or not this trade happens, I would expect the Hawks to be involved in a lot of trade talks this offseason. The draft is in a week and buzz is steadily building. Moves have already been announced as teams talk to their own free agents. An action-packed summer could be on the horizon.