The Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Timberwolves have been frequently discussed as potential trade partners leading up to the deadline on Thursday afternoon, and in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the widely-speculated deal reportedly came to fruition. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, those three squads and the Denver Nuggets agreed to a deal that will include a number of picks and players moving to new places.
Sources: Minnesota, Atlanta, Houston and Denver are close to agreement: Robert Covington to Rockets; Clint Capela to the Hawks; Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, Evan Turner and draft compensation to Timberwolves; expiring contracts and first-rounder to Denver.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2020
ESPN Sources: 4-team trade agreement: Houston: Robert Covington; Atlanta: Clint Capela and Nene; Minnesota: Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, Evan Turner, ATL 1st round pick via Nets; Denver: Gerald Green, Houston FRP.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2020
Minnesota's Keita Bates-Diop is going to Denver in deal, source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2020
Sources: Houston is also receiving Jordan Bell and a second-round draft pick. https://t.co/3YpbhniEYP
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2020
Sources: Minnesota trading Shabazz Napier to Denver. Nuggets sending Jarred Vanderbilt to Timberwolves. https://t.co/3YpbhniEYP
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2020
Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic added an additional piece that’ll be on the move in this monster deal.
Noah Vonleh also headed to Denver, per sources. This is wild.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) February 5, 2020
The chatter between the franchises had been kicked around for a few days, with this version of the deal being reported as close to done by Charania on Tuesday night, with Wojnarowski adding that there were talks happening with a handful of other teams about bringing additional squads into the mix.
Sources: Minnesota, Atlanta, Houston are in serious discussions on a deal that would send Robert Covington to Rockets and Clint Capela to the Hawks. Evan Turner and draft compensation involved in current talks to Timberwolves. Potential fourth team too.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2020
Among the serious candidates to emerge as a new fourth team in this trade scenario, league sources tell ESPN: The Denver Nuggets. Talks with teams elsewhere are ongoing too. https://t.co/77s2keXl9a
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2020
The biggest pieces on the move here are Covington and Capela. The former heads to Houston, where he will give a team that is always looking for three-and-D specialist one of the best ones in the league. It does, however, cost them Capela, who fills a gigantic hole at the 5 for the Hawks and gives Trae Young as good of a lob-catching threat as the sport has, while Nene gives them some depth there, too.
As for Denver and Minnesota, both were rewarded with first-round selections moving forward for helping to facilitate this deal, while the Wolves added a nice piece (albeit one who is about to become a free agent) in Beasley and a monster expiring contract in Turner. It’s rare that deals this gigantic happen during the season, but with all four of these teams looking to tinker, we were able to see this one come to fruition.
