Rockets believe they have a trade lined up for Clint Capela that’s contingent on Jimmy Butler signing

The Houston Rockets are pursuing Jimmy Butler, but in order to sign him, they will need to clear some cap space. One player they would have to trade is Clint Capela, and Marc Stein of The New York Times is reporting they already have a trade partner lined up for the big man.

It should be noted that the Rockets do not intend to trade Capela unless they know they can land Butler.

There have been reports that Houston has been pursuing a sign-and-trade with the Philadelphia 76ers in order to acquire Butler, with Capela, Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker being mentioned as names that could possibly be on the move.

The Rockets are coming off of a 2018-19 campaign in which they won 53 games and nabbed the fourth seed in the Western Conference. They then went on to sweep the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Golden State Warriors in six games in the second round.

Houston’s loss to Golden State represented the fourth time in five years that the Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors in the playoffs. In 2018, Houston made it all the way to the conference finals and fell to the Dubs in seven games.

With frustration reportedly growing between James Harden and Chris Paul, general manager Daryl Morey is aiming to land a third star to try and put the Rockets over the top in the West, especially with the Warriors looking vulnerable heading into next year.

It seems that Butler is his primary target.

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