THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE IS HERE TO STAY
Clint Capela made a great impression for the Atlanta Hawks front office in his first full season with the team. With two years remaining on his current deal, the Hawks extended Capela for another two years at $46 million dollars. Capela’s deal is now for 4 years / $82M.
Capela anchored a surprisingly stout Hawks defense last season. He averaged a healthy double-double of 15.2 points, a league-high 14.3 rebounds and exactly 2 blocks per game in 2021. Per ESPN metrics, his defensive real plus-minus was only second to defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz.
Capela is the third member of this young-Hawks core to receive an extension this offseason, behind guard, Trae Young, and forward, John Collins, respectively. All though Capela is dubbed as a “veteran” he is still only 27 years young. The franchise has done a great job of retaining the talent that saw them get within two games of an NBA finals appearance.
The team now gets a chance to not only run it back and build upon its chemistry, but has gotten even deeper as a squad this summer. A lot of folks in Atlanta call Capela, “the new-look Mutombo” [Dikembe Mutombo was the anchor and fan favorite of the Hawks teams’ in the mid-to-late 90’s]. He will now get the chance to continue building his legacy in the peach state.
Drop your comments below of what you think of the Capela extension!
