Houston Rockets: What Clint Capela should do with the team’s latest offer
The Houston Rockets are still working fast and furiously to try to piece this team together as things meander through the off season. What’s the latest offer that the team has made for Clint Capela? Let’s take a look.
The Houston Rockets have largely gone through this off season with an incomplete grade. Outside of the re-signing of Chris Paul to a four-year, $160 million contract and bringing Michael Carter-Williams into the fold for the veteran’s minimum, there hasn’t been much of splash on this team’s front.
But you know what? It’s not over as I’m positive general manager Daryl Morey has been up nights trying to figure out how to improve this team with the limited money that they have to spend. The Houston Rockets are currently over the $101 million salary cap for 2018-19 with the signing of Paul but if the team does make a considerable offer to one well-known restricted free agent or with a trade pulled off, they could easily be going into the luxury tax.
The team currently has $118.5 million committed to contracts at the moment and they’re just $5.2 million shy of diving into the luxury tax line. Tilman Fertitta has already indicated that he’s
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okay with the team’s additional spending to keep them competitive so this is nothing new.
But what’s the latest offer the Houston Rockets have given Clint Capela? We know that the $4.75 million qualifying offer that started Capela’s free agency was doled out a few weeks ago but what’s the latest rumor of the deals that are on the table?
ESPN.com’s Tim MacMahon, who certainly keeps his ear to ground on the Houston Rockets beat, has mentioned that Capela has been given an offer that would be within the four-year, $60 million contract range. But MacMahon writes that Capela wants something similar to what the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Steven Adams received in a four-year, $100 million contract last summer.
With the Rockets offer, Capela would be making about $15 million per season, an 84 percent pay raise over the $2.33 million he made in 2017-18. But with Capela seeking that higher number, it’s highly unlikely that he will be able to get that amount doled out to him, even with teams with gobs of cap space. If that were the case, he’d already would’ve received an offer sheet to give to the Rockets.
So what should Capela do?
I think he should take the offer from the Rockets but on shorter terms, possibly a two-year, $30 million deal. I don’t think taking the qualifying offer would be a smart move at this point because you never know how one’s career will pan out, especially with basketball being a contact sport and being susceptible to injury. He could take the QO but his value could be lower than what it is now, especially if he regresses or has an injury.
But taking the four-year, $60 million offer would handcuff him to that rate for the next four years and could cripple his maximum earning power thereafter because who knows if the league will have another influx of cash coming to the coffers any time soon?
Capela is one of my favorite players but I understand it’s serious business trying to work out a contract. And I’m positive that he wants to be back with the Rockets as his first choice but he wants the RIGHT TERMS. We’ll have to see but it’s highly-likely that we see Capela back in Rockets Red but at a lower rate than what was originally anticipated.
Next: Rockets off season moves that must be made
Capela, 24, averaged 13.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks off 65.2 percent shooting from the field and 56 percent from the charity stripe last season, all career-highs.