After losing out on All-Star forward-center Anthony Davis, the prevalent opinion was that the Celtics would turn their attention to another big fish on the trade market: Houston Rockets center Clint Capela.
But that possibility is now dwindling, according to Adam Himmelsbach of Boston Globe:
"There have been reports that the Celtics have had trade talks with the Rockets about their talented young center, Clint Capela, who has four years left on his five-year, $90 million deal. A league source said Saturday that the Celtics are intrigued by Capela, but that the sides have not had any trade talks and that a deal for Capela is unlikely because Boston would not have interest in surrendering the players needed to complete the trade."
Himmelsbach also reports that Boston has not engaged in trade talks centered on Capela, despite Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reporting that the Celtics and Rockets had held serious discussions about the Swiss center. Kyler would also imply that Boston's lottery pick (14th overall) could have been in play for Capela with Houston looking to secure a top-20 pick in the upcoming draft.
The Celtics missed out on Anthony Davis, and will likely lose Kyrie Irving to free agency. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Celtics "refused" to include 2017 third overall pick Jayson Tatum as part of a deal to get Davis - which means they would likely have not wanted to give up Tatum to the Rockets either.
But, Capela could still be traded from Houston. There is a chance - we don't know how big or how small of a chance - he could maybe end up in Brooklyn, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
The Houston Rockets are shaking things up a bit this offseason. While most of the summer so far has been about whether or not to re-sign Mike D'Antoni and the firing of his assistant coaches, what has garnered the most attention is the potential moves to be made.
Last week, it was reported that the Rockets would be likely to trade one of their main role players away, either Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker or Clint Capela. The team is likely to go into next season without one of those guys.
