Timberwolves Seeking Center, Have Discussed Clint Capela With Hawks

The Minnesota Timberwolves have had multiple trade conversations in their search for help at the center position, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

One of those conversations involved Hawks center Clint Capela, as Charania relayed.

In other words, new Timberwolves head of basketball operations Tim Connelly has hit the ground running after being swiped from his same role with the Nuggets a few weeks back.

Minnesota is coming off a 46-36 season and playoff berth, losing in the first round to the Grizzlies. While standout Karl-Anthony Towns mans the middle, the Timberwolves may be seeking a second pivot to allow Towns to play some power forward.

Naz Reid, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaden McDaniels are other center/power forward types on the roster.

Meanwhile, the Hawks are said to be one of the NBA’s more aggressive teams when it comes to exploring the market. But president/GM Travis Schlenk cautioned last week that Atlanta is only trying to improve the roster — and not gut it.

“We’re the easy target,” Schlenk said, via Jeff Schultz of The Athletic. “Every rumor out there has the Hawks in it.”

So it’s hard to envision the Hawks just giving away Capela, or any other starter for that matter. It seems more like they’d prefer to improve around the edges, after reaching the East finals two seasons ago, only to be ousted in the first round this year.

“It’s a lot easier to become a good team, a playoff team, than it is to become one that contends for a title,” Schlenk said, via Schultz. “We feel we’ve become a competitive team, but now we have to take the next step, and these are difficult decisions.

“If you make a mistake in the draft, you can overcome that. It’s a two-year mistake. If you make a mistake in free agency or in a sign-and-trade, when you’re giving somebody a four-year, $150 million contract, that can be detrimental for a long time.”