It’s been an open secret that the Atlanta Hawks are shopping Clint Capela, but no deal has been made yet for the Swiss center as of this writing. As it turns out, newly acquired Larry Nance Jr. might have more trade value than Capela if recent reports are to be believed.
“The Hawks have been trying to trade Capela for more than a year, but league sources say that the Atlanta big man drawing the most external interest is the newly acquired Nance,” Marc Stein wrote in his latest column on Thursday. “Word is Nance, who came to the Hawks in the recent Dejounte Murray trade, is being chased by multiple teams in need of proven size.”
Larry Nance Jr. arrived in Atlanta two weeks ago via a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Atlanta Hawks received Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, EJ Liddell, and two first-round picks in exchange for Dejounte Murray.
The 31-year-old forward was a role player for the New Orleans Pelicans. In 2023-24, Larry Nance Jr. played 61 regular season games, averaging 5.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on 57.3 shooting from the field in 19.9 minutes per game.
Despite posting inferior numbers than Clint Capela, Larry Nance Jr. gets more trade interest because of his lower salary, with the former earning $22.2 million this year and the latter earning $11.2 million. Both Atlanta Hawks bigs are on expiring contracts.
Atlanta Hawks frontcourt depth
As of this writing, the Atlanta Hawks have Clint Capela, Larry Nance Jr., Onyeka Okongwu, Bruno Fernando, and Cody Zeller at center.
The Atlanta Hawks are also stacked in the forward spots, as Jalen Johnson, De’Andre Hunter, and Zaccharie Risacher are in the rotation.
Zaccharie Risacher was the top selection of the 2024 NBA Draft. The 19-year-old recorded 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting and five rebounds in his first-ever Summer League match.