Rumor: Significant distance between Rockets and Clint Capela on valuation, new contract

The Houston Rockets decided to re-sign Chris Paul to a max deal this summer. Meanwhile, Clint Capela still does not have a contract.

One of the most important players on the Rockets roster the past couple of seasons along with James Harden, Capela is looking for a new deal that would presumably make him the third-highest paid player on the roster. However, Capela and the team have not come together on a deal just yet, and rumors are swirling about some serious distance between the two.

According to Rockets Wire’s Kelly Iko, Capela’s camp and the Houston front office have a big enough difference in variation that it has slowed down talks for a new contract.

Via Rockets Wire:

Rudy Gobert and Steven Adams, two centers who, like Capela, are represented by Wasserman, secured tidy extensions on annual salaries of around $24 million. Capela values himself somewhere in that range, more than the four-year, $80 million offer sheet the Sacramento Kings signed restricted free agent guard Zach Lavine to, which Chicago immediately matched. Both sources said Capela was offered something similar to the four-year, $53 million deal that restricted free agent center Jusuf Nurkic agreed signed to stay in Portland.

That’s a hefty sum for Capela, who is in excellent defender and pick-and-roll player, but who doesn’t have a lot of suitors during the summer of 2018 given the cap situation of many franchises.

It’s an inopportune time for many players to come up for their big extensions, and next season in 2019 will be much more fruitful for players inking new deals.

In the meantime, Houston can wait out Capela and see if he will budge on his number moving forward. The Dallas Mavericks were one of the last teams with significant free cap space that would have liked to sign a center, and they inked DeAndre Jordan to a deal earlier in the week.

It’s possible that Capela could take his qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. However, that comes with significant risk given injury concern and projected market need. It still makes more sense for the two sides to come to an agreement, but for now we are still waiting.

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