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The Atlanta Hawks and C Clint Capela have agreed to a two-year, $46 million contract extension, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Capela has two years left on his current contract with the Hawks, so he will be with ATL through the 2024-25 season. Cap is set to make $17 million this upcoming season and $18 million in 2022-23 before the extension kicks in. He’ll then be paid an average annual value of $23 million over two seasons.
Capela, 27, was a defensive stalwart and one of the top rebounders in the NBA last season for the Hawks, who surprisingly advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. ATL lost to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Capela led the NBA in rebounding with 14.3 per game in 2020-21 while scoring 15.4 points on close to 60 percent shooting from the field. He also set a career high with 2.0 blocks per game.
This move isn’t all that surprising from the Hawks, who clearly want to keep their core intact after advancing to the third round in the East. This does mean that we could see young C Onyeka Okongwu moved with no clear path to playing time in the starting lineup. Okongwu recently underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum, which will have him miss time to start 2021-22. The USC product showed flashes of promise as a rookie last season and could serve as a solid backup to Capela at center throughout his rookie deal.