RESTRICTED free-agent center Clint Capela will remain a Houston Rocket after signing a new five-year, $90-million contract with the Texas club. The 6-foot-10, 24-year-old native of Geneva, Switzerland has played for the Rockets in his first four NBA seasons.
Last campaign, the Rockets registered the best regular record in the league with an all-time franchise mark of 65-17 as Capela averaged career highs in scoring (13.9 ppg) and rebounding (10.8 rpg) while starting in all 74 games and playing in 27.5 minutes an outing. He topped the NBA in field goal percentage at .652 (441-for-676), ranked fourth in blocked shots at 1.85 bpg behind New Orleans’ Anthony Davis (2.57), New York’s Kristaps Porzingis (2.40) and Utah’s Rudy Gobert (2.30) and eighth in rebounding.
Capela’s numbers in field goal percentage and shot blocks were also career bests.
In the 2018 NBA playoffs, Capela produced averages of 12.7 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.12 blocks in 17 starts and 30.6 minutes per game while also pacing all players in field goal percentage at .660 (95-for-144).
Capela’s new agreement includes $1.5 million in likely-to-achieve annual incentives and $500,000 in unlikely-to-achieve incentives.
Capela’s latest contract pushes the Rockets’ payroll to $136 million, the fourth-highest in the NBA behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, back-to-back league champion Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors.
The NBA salary cap for the 2018-19 wars is $101.9 million.
Houston, which has a projected luxury tax bill of more than $21 million, is also expected to sign free agent Carmelo Anthony for $2.4 million, the minimum for a 15-year veteran, any time now.
German shepherd Dirk Nowitzki has inked a one-year, $5-million pact to return to the Dallas Mavericks for a 21st straight season that would surpass Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) for the record for most consecutive years with only one team in an entire career.
Vince Carter, the oldest active player in the NBA at age 41, will also suit up for a 21st season following a one-year, $2.4-million deal with the Atlanta Hawks, the eighth team overall in his distinguished career.
An eight-time All-Star, Carter averaged a career-low 5.4 points in a limited role with the Sacramento Kings last campaign.
Once Carter and Nowitzki set foot on an NBA floor in 2018-19, they will join Kevin Garnett, Robert Parish and Kevin Willis with the most seasons played all-time at 21.
If Carter plays on or after his January 26 birthday, he will become the NBA’s first 42-year-old player since Dikembe Mutombo of the Houston Rockets in 2008-09.
The best days of the NBA free agency are over.
Dwyane Wade, an unrestricted free agent of the Miami Heat, is the lone top-tier player still available in the open market. At age 36, the 6-foot-4 guard, who own three title rings (2006-2012-2013) with the Heat, is unsure whether to call it a career or stay on for a 16th NBA season.