How does the Knicks Blockbuster deal for Karl-Anthony Towns Affect the Atlanta Hawks?

The NBA always finds a way to surprise you right before the season starts. Last year, the Portland Trail Blazers traded franchise legend Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks. Last night, one year to the day since Lillard was traded, an even bigger trade went down. The New York Knicks agreed to a deal to send Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for All-Star big game Karl-Anthony Towns.

This is arguably the biggest move of the entire offseason and comes right when training camp is about to begin across the NBA. The Knicks are going all in by acquiring another All-Star, while Minnesota is reshaping things after making the conference finals last year.

This trade actually affects the Atlanta Hawks as well. It does not affect them as far as the standings go, but the Knicks were one of the teams that seemed interested in possibly trading for Clint Capela.

It was no secret that the Knicks were on the lookout for a center due to the Mitchell Robinson injury and one of the centers that they had been linked to was Hawks center Clint Capela. A trade was unlikely due to salary and the money was tough to match, but now one of the potential suitors for Capela has filled their center need. Unless the Hawks were going to get Julius Randle back in a trade, it was going to be tough to make a Capela-Knicks deal happen.

As far as a Capela trade, it still seems the most likely scenario is that the Hawks start the season with him on the roster. While he is not the same player that he was three years ago when the Hawks made their run to the conference finals, Capela is still a very good rebounder and rim-protector. The Hawks should not willing to just give Capela away because he still brings value to the team whether he is the starter or he is coming off the bench and Onyeka Okongwu is the starter.

Could the Hawks trade Capela if the right deal came along? Absolutely. Whether it is before the season, during the season or on the day of the trade deadline, the Hawks could still make a move, it just won’t be with the Knicks.

Who are some other teams to watch? There are always surprise teams, but New Orleans is an obvious answer and there would certainly be others.