After defeating the Pelicans on Sunday, the Houston Rockets find themselves in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference with a 31-18 record entering play on Monday. That's good, but not good enough for a team with championship aspirations.
The Rockets don't have a lot of assets that would presumably net them a significant enough return to break up their core. They can't trade P.J. Tucker, who complements James Harden and Russell Westbrook too well on offense and is too vital to a defense already walking a thin line.
Eric Gordon has been hit or miss since returning in late December, and at 31 years old, how many teams would be lining up to pay him the $75 million he's guaranteed over the next four seasons? Plus, Gordon is Houston's only difference-making scoring option outside of Harden and Westbrook.
Houston doesn't have any young players that are going to spark much intrigue. Austin Rivers? Ben McLemore? Danuel House? Nothing of significance is coming back in exchange for either the talent or minimal salary of any of those guys.
Realistically, that leaves Clint Capela.
With the Feb. 6 trade deadline approaching, Adrian Wojnarowksi is reporting the Rockets are "actively discussing several trade scenarios involving center Clint Capela, including with a host of Eastern Conference franchises."
The Rockets are engaged in three-way trade possibilities that might allow for them to use Capela to gather the draft assets needed to acquire an impact wing player, league sources said.
In talks around the league, the Rockets are expressing hope they can find a deal -- or a series of deals -- that would bring them back a wing and a center for Capela by Thursday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, sources said.
Capela perhaps isn't seen as quite the same rising star everyone thought he was when the Rockets signed him to a five-year, $90 million deal in 2018, but there are surely some teams that would be interested in a 25-year-old athletic, rim-rolling big man with an elite defensive ceiling (if not consistent) -- especially being that Capela is locked up through 2023 for less than $57 million over the next three seasons.
Wojnarowksi reports that Atlanta is one of the teams that has shown interest in Capela, and that match would make a lot of sense. Capela, as mentioned, is an athletic rim roller to pair with Trae Young, and he would give the Hawks the interior defensive presence and rim protection they sorely lack.
Perhaps John Collins would end up in the deal, and he, too, would make sense in Houston as another great athlete who can play pick-and-roll with Harden and Westbrook, but with the added bonus that he's shooting 34 percent from 3-pointers on more than four attempts a game this season. That's Houston's game -- either making 3s, or representing a threat to make 3s to then pull defenders way from the basket and open up driving lanes for Harden and Westbrook.
That's just one potential deal that might make sense, but as Wojnarowski reports, there are a lot of ways Houston can try to get something done for Capela, including potential multi-team deals.
