NBA Trade Rumor: Hawks Clint Capela Asking Price Too High for Mavs
Going into last night's NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks were one of the more talked about teams given their potential to make a move, whether it was their pick entirely for a win-now piece or moving back in efforts to acquire multiple picks.
Well, Dallas did indeed move back, but it wasn't for the rumored veteran center that they were speculated to target in a trade.
On Friday morning's episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective, ESPN's Tim MacMahon touched on Dallas' movement in the draft, which included the rumored deal between the Mavericks and the Hawks that failed to come to fruition.
"The Mavericks asked for Clint Capela," MacMahon said. "My understanding is the Hawks asked for the Mavericks to throw in Josh Green or Jaden Hardy, which that's a no-go. Those are young players that the Mavericks really like."
As MacMahon noted, and has been rumored for a few weeks, the Hawks have been actively shopping Collins and in discussions with the Mavs, the Dallas front office preferred Capela over Collins, which was ultimately the fork in the road.
On the podcast, MacMahon also mentioned that Hawks forward De'Andre Hunter was discussed in the potential trade with Dallas, but the Mavs' front office "liked the player but not at that money."
For the price of losing one of Green or Hardy, the trade with Atlanta just made no sense for the Mavericks this early in the offseason, especially with the avenues they decided to pursue. Dallas landed two first-round picks, shedded Davis Bertans' contract and added the ability to use the full midlevel exception at $12.4 million in free agency.
With those two first rounders turning into Duke center Dereck Lively II and Marquette forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper, the Mavericks have have drafted themselves their own future versions of Capela and Hunter without having to lose an asset in Green or Hardy.
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