It took long enough, but Clint Capela is officially coming back to the Houston Rockets after the two sides agreed on a 5-year, $90 million dollar extension.
Though he was a restricted free agent and he wanted a MAX deal, there weren’t many teams with cap space to force the Rockets hand into the $100 million dollar range to get them to match an offer. If he would have signed a $4.3 million qualifying offer this summer, he could have gone into 2019 as an unrestricted free agent, but Capela chose to take less money now and just secure the bag.
Chris Paul and James Harden surely get the biggest spotlight in Houston, but Capela was certainly a big factor in the team’s success last season.
With this signing, the Rockets’ payroll is now at $136 million, pushing their luxury tax bill to $21.4 million, the fourth highest in the NBA.
It is very widely speculated that Carmelo Anthony will end up in Houston for a veterans minimum after the Atlanta Hawks buy him out, and if they sign him, it would cost the organization an extra $3.8 million towards the luxury tax.
The team lost Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute this past offseason, losing a big part of their defensive prowess that was so evident last year.
Will this team even have a chance to contend?