Mavs 'More Willing' to Trade For Hawks' Clint Capela Over John Collins

With the Dallas Mavericks in dire need of a frontcourt upgrade, the Atlanta Hawks have two potential trade pieces that could entice Dallas.

Of all the potential trades within the lottery for next week's NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks sitting at No. 10 is one of the more talked about scenarios. Whether they make the pick for themselves, opt to trade for a package of win-now pieces, or potentially obtain multiple picks has yet to be determined.

On Friday, Yahoo! Sports' Jake Fischer reported that though the Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks have had 'preliminary talks' discussing a draft pick swap that included John Collins, Dallas would be 'more willing to consider' a deal for Clint Capela instead of Collins.

"In Atlanta, the Hawks will continue to explore trade scenarios for Collins. That has so far included preliminary talks with Dallas about swapping Collins and the No. 15 pick in the draft with the Mavericks for the No. 10 pick and Davis Bertans," Fischer wrote. 

"Those talks did not develop very far, sources said, and Dallas indicated it would be more willing to consider that deal if Hawks center Clint Capela was the returning player from Atlanta."

Dallas' desire to upgrade at center is well known, but there is a specific type of big man that they need to target, which is why they seem to prefer Capela over Collins in a potential deal with Atlanta.

Collins may be the more athletic, well-rounded offensive player, but it's Capela who has the elite rebounding and trusted rim-protection skills that the Mavericks covet most in an upgrade at center. The 29-year-old big man averaged 12.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game for the Hawks this year. And offensively, Capela's mastery in the pick-and-roll and willingness as a rim runner makes him a perfect fit with Luka Doncic.

For the Hawks, they have a number of contractual decisions to make coming up in Saddiq Bey, Onyeka Okongwu, and Dejounte Murray. And with the promise Okongwu has shown over the first two years of his career, he's deserving of a bigger role, which could leave Capela on the outs. 

As for the trade discussed between Dallas and Atlanta, if the Hawks are willing to swap Collins for Capela in the deal, as Fischer mentioned above, the Mavericks should have the league office on speed dial to call the trade in. There are a number of trade-back options Dallas could consider, and we'll have more info on those at DallasBasketball.com soon, but this particular one makes a lot of sense for both sides.

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