NBA Rumors: Rockets Could Swap Clint Capela For Anthony Davis Next Summer, Per ‘Bleacher Report’
After struggling early in the 2018-19 NBA season, the Houston Rockets have managed to bounce back and prove that they are still one of the best NBA teams in the league. As of now, the Rockets have won seven of their last 10 games, sitting in the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference with a 49-28 record. When all their players are healthy, the Rockets have a strong chance of beating the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors in a best-of-seven series.
However, if they fell short once again, Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey could be forced to make a huge roster shakeup and trade for another superstar who could boost their chance of winning an NBA championship. According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, one of the potential trade targets for the Rockets in the 2019 NBA offseason is Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans.
In the proposed trade deal by Bleacher Report, the Rockets would send Clint Capela, P.J. Tucker, and three future first-round picks to the Pelicans in exchange for Anthony Davis. The deal works on ESPN‘s NBA Trade Machine.
“The Rockets will sacrifice plenty of picks for a star, but Houston’s high floor saps some of the selections’ appeal. Capela is (at least) a top-10 center, but his game is more complementary than New Orleans probably wants for its Davis replacement. Assuming the Pelicans want nothing to do with Eric Gordon after his messy exit from the Bayou, Tucker joins the offer instead and perhaps gets flipped in a separate swap.”
The Knicks might actually be out of the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes if they win the draft lottery https://t.co/iyIKOZ61mO
— Intl. Business Times (@IBTimes) March 27, 2019
Trading two of their core players, Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker, and three future first-round selections is undeniably a tough decision for the Rockets, as it could do more harm than good on their team. However, it is the type of risk that they should be willing to take in order to have a strong chance of ending their decades-long title drought. The potential acquisition of Anthony Davis will tremendously boost the Rockets’ performance on both ends of the floor, giving them an All-Star big man who can shoot the ball from beyond the arc.
This season, the 26-year-old center/power forward is averaging 25.9 points, 12.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.4 blocks, and 1.6 steals on 51.7 percent shooting from the field, and 33.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The “Big Three” of Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, and James Harden would be a huge headache to every powerhouse team in the league, even to the star-studded Warriors.
As of now, the AD-to-Houston trade is just a pipe dream for the Rockets, especially with teams like the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers also planning to make huge offers for the Pelicans superstar. Expect more rumors to circulate when the 2018-19 NBA season is officially over.
