{"id":129956,"date":"2025-03-21T17:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T21:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129956"},"modified":"2025-03-21T17:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T21:07:11","slug":"hawks-clint-capela-potential-season-ending-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/21\/hawks-clint-capela-potential-season-ending-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks Center Suffers Potential Season-Ending Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a team announcement, Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela<\/a> \u201chas been diagnosed with a ligament injury in the fourth metacarpal of his left hand.\u201d The 30-year-old \u201cwill undergo rehabilitation and will be re-evaluated in approximately three-to-four weeks.\u201d With Atlanta\u2019s regular season finale scheduled for April 13, he may have played his last game<\/a> for the Hawks.<\/p>\n

As of today, the Hawks are seventh-place in the East standings and looking at a Play-In Tournament berth. This year, the Play-In Tournament will take place from April 15-18.<\/p>\n

Hawks\u2019 Clint Capela Suffers Potential Season-Ending Injury<\/h2>\n

If this is the end of Capela\u2019s tenure with the Hawks, it was a memorable one.<\/p>\n

After becoming a prominent figure with the Houston Rockets during their James Harden<\/a> Era, Capela was traded to the Hawks in a four-team deal<\/a>. At that point in his career, the Swiss center was averaging 12.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game. Even with the Rockets being home to many great bigs, he was top-10 in franchise history in rebounds (3,243) and top-five in blocks (491). He remains the team\u2019s all-time leader in field goal percentage (.634).<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say, Atlanta likely believed they were getting a cornerstone-caliber player. If so, they were correct. Capela\u2019s started 339 of the 356 games he\u2019s played with the Hawks, playoffs included. In fact, he was only replaced as the Hawks\u2019 starting center on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n

Slow & Steady<\/h3>\n

To be frank, Capela\u2019s physical decline has been steady.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like he was running around the court doing backflips in his prime. However, he had more agility and energy, as evidenced by him contesting 4.3 two-point attempts per game in 2024-25 versus 7.0 two-point attempts per game in 2023-24. In 2020-21, his first season in Atlanta, he contested 9.1 two-point attempts per game.<\/p>\n

Because of his relative lack of activity, the defense suffered this season. Ultimately, they were forced to promote Onyeka Okongwu<\/a> to the first unit<\/a>. This succession plan has arguably been in the works since 2020, when the Hawks drafted him sixth overall. However, listed at 6-foot-9 and 245 pounds, he\u2019s built like Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning that Thompson started in 542 of 755 games in his 20s, playoffs included. In Cavs history, he\u2019s top-three in career rebounds (5,662) and top-five in career blocks (469). Nevertheless, like Thompson, Okongwu doesn\u2019t really have imposing size. What he does have is fresh legs, springs in his knees, nice timing and notable guard skills.<\/p>\n

With NBA offenses spacing the court as wide as they can, his ability to fly around is pretty valuable.<\/p>\n

Reunited?<\/h3>\n

Heading into the offseason, the Hawks will have the ability to re-sign Capela. He\u2019s on the downslope of his career, but he can still be a force to be reckoned with around the rim. Furthermore, though he\u2019s been involved in myriad trade rumors<\/a>, Atlanta\u2019s motivation to move him seems like it was primarily financial in nature.<\/p>\n

If the two sides have mutual interest on a team-friendly new deal, perhaps he\u2019d remain with the Hawks.<\/p>\n

That being said, he could have several suitors in free agency. Despite the purported devaluation of centers, teams that can\u2019t control the paint are often left vulnerable. Whether they need a starting center or a backup, Capela\u2019s rebounding and shot-blocking ability will be attractive.<\/p>\n

One potential destination for Capela is the Los Angeles Clippers. With Ivica Zubac<\/a> manning the middle, they don\u2019t have to be overly reliant on him. However, his physical tools and skillset could ease Zubac\u2019s burden. His chemistry with Harden, their starting point guard, also has to be noted.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Dale Zanine-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a team announcement, Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela \u201chas been diagnosed with a ligament injury in the fourth metacarpal of his left hand.\u201d The 30-year-old \u201cwill undergo rehabilitation and will be re-evaluated in approximately three-to-four weeks.\u201d With Atlanta\u2019s regular season finale scheduled for April 13, he may have played his last game for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":129963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,9,31,27,62],"tags":[346,297,4745,2830,1040],"class_list":["post-129956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-rockets","category-clippers","category-nba","tag-clint-capela","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-injuries","tag-onyeka-okongwu","tag-tristan-thompson"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129965,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129956\/revisions\/129965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}