A new column published Wednesday by ESPN‘s Brian Windhorst lists Houston Rockets starting center Clint Capela as a potential trade candidate for later this season.

Citing anonymous NBA team executives, Windhorst writes:

Another center executives are watching is Clint Capela, who was dangled in trade talks early last summer but got pulled back when the Houston Rockets went all-in on a Russell Westbrook deal. If the Rockets need midseason changes, and they almost always itch for them, Capela could be available again.

Through three games to start the 2019-20 season, the 25-year-old Capela is averaging 14.3 points (63.3% shooting), 8.3 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks in 28.7 minutes per game.

Coming off an underwhelming playoff run last year in which his scoring and rebounding (9.7 points, 10.3 rebounds) dropped noticeably from his regular-season levels (16.6 points, 12.7 rebounds), Capela has seen his playing time dip slightly to begin the new season.

After averaging a career-high 33.6 minutes per game last year, Capela is down to 28.7 this season, with Mike D’Antoni frequently choosing smaller lineups with 6-foot-5 forward P.J. Tucker at the center spot to close games. Thus, at face value, it might appear from the outside that the Rockets would be open to moving on under the right circumstances. (Though it should be pointed out that even though Capela’s overall minutes are down, his advanced numbers are excellent in the limited sample to date — especially on defense.)

Clint Capela's defense has been really good. He is averaging 3.4 blocks per 36 minutes, which ranks 8th for players averaging 28 MPG, and has a DRTG of 95.9, which ranks 20th and is the best for any Rockets player by far. Him only averaging 28.5 MPG is a damn shame. pic.twitter.com/sxocBPVHoY — Play Gary Clark (NBA (@Itamar1710) October 29, 2019

It should also be noted that Capela is one of the only movable salaries on the team’s books to help make the math work on a potential trade for any player of significant salary. Since Houston is above the NBA’s salary cap, they have to send out close to as much money as they take in for a trade to be permissible, and Eric Gordon is ineligible to be dealt this season after signing a contract extension in September.

With all that said, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison to when the Rockets dangled Capela as trade bait during the offseason. That was done in late June, when the Rockets were trying to execute a sign-and-trade for free agent Jimmy Butler. Had that been successful, the Rockets could have then used their Mid-Level Exception once free agency opened on a proven center such as Kevon Looney or JaVale McGee to help replace some of Capela’s minutes.

But now that free agency is long over, there’s no clear avenue for the Rockets — who, with James Harden and Russell Westbrook, are determined to contend for an NBA title this season — to add a center replacement. Internally, their only options are a 37-year-old Tyson Chandler, a 36-year-old Nene, or an unproven Isaiah Hartenstein.

So if the Rockets were to deal Capela this season, they’d likely need to get back a center with size in the same transaction. The problem with that hypothetical is that if the Rockets are getting a player at the same position that they believe is better, what would the incentive be for the other team to do the trade?

Rockets GM Daryl Morey is limited in the amount of draft assets he could add as sweetener to any deal after giving up multiple future first-round picks and pick swaps in the July trade for Westbrook. While the team’s 2020 first rounder is available, that pick will likely be at the end of the round ⁠— and thus not all that attractive.

The one pathway to a deal could involve Capela’s young age and his contract, which offers four seasons of club control moving forward. If a veteran center on a shorter-term contract with a rebuilding team comes available, that might be one scenario where the Rockets could get a potential upgrade and the other team benefits from Capela’s relative youth and extra years of club control.

One possibility might be Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams, who Windhorst mentions in his story as potentially being on the trade market later this season. Adams also has extensive experience playing alongside Westbrook with the Thunder.

The NBA season is young but contending teams are already thinking about how to try to improve their rosters: https://t.co/q47jJfbMTr — Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) October 30, 2019

With Adams under contract for only two more seasons, perhaps Oklahoma City in its rebuilding phase would prefer a younger Capela with more cost (and asset) certainty for the years ahead. But that’s highly speculative and likely months away from even being a consideration, since the Rockets would need to include salaries of players they signed in the offseason to bridge the salary gap — and those players cannot be traded until Dec. 15, or Jan. 15 for Nene.

The larger point is that the dynamics of a potential Capela trade are very different for the Rockets during the season than they were in June. It’s understandable why executives might expect Capela to become available again, since he was heavily shopped this summer.

But considering the Rockets’ unique situation with their lack of an in-house center replacement and without a clear path to signing one externally (not the case in June), that restricts their options. It’s not impossible, but the odds are against any in-season Capela trade because of all the dominoes that would have to line up perfectly.