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Clint Capela was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Atlanta Hawks at the February trade deadline, but the Hawks knew that the 25-year-old big man would not be particularly healthy to start his time with the franchise.
Capela had been suffering from plantar fasciitis, but now the Switzerland native will sit out even longer with an additional bone bruise on top of his original ailment, according to Kevin Chouinard of NBA.com:
On the FSSE broadcast, Travis Schlenk said that Clint Capela's recovery from plantar fasciitis is progressing well but the additional bone bruise has made things tricky.
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) February 27, 2020
With that setback in his recovery, Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk claims that the timeline for Capela’s return will be “maybe the middle of March,” per Michael Gallagher of Rotoworld:
On Hawks TV, Travis Schlenk said "maybe in the middle of March" for a Clint Capela return.
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) February 27, 2020
The Hawks made a bevy of moves at the trade deadline, the most impactful of which was bringing on a big man of the present and future in Capela, who has produced a proven track record with the Rockets over the course of his six-year career.
All of Capela’s strengths – defensive rebounding, shot-blocking, general interior defense – match up with glaring deficiencies in the Atlanta Hawks’ team construct, so the team is surely counting the days until he can return.
Despite that, the team should be wary of rushing the big man’s return, as both plantar fasciitis and bone bruises have been known to finicky injuries, and ones that should not be taken lightly.
Capela has only played 39 games this season, and before his injury, he was averaging 13.9 points per game, 13.8 rebounds per game and 1.8 blocks per game. Those defensive rebounds represented a new career-high – just what the Hawks will be looking for once he gets healthy.
