Rockets strike deal to bring back Clint Capela

The Houston Rockets have reached an agreement with Clint Capela on a five-year, $90 million extension, sources tell ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

Capela was a restricted free agent. If he instead had signed a $4.3 million qualifying offer, he would have entered 2019 as an unrestricted free agent. 

The 24-year-old Capela has been a key piece in Houston's resurgence in the West the past two seasons. He's coming off a career year in 2017-18, averaging 13.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game, while shooting a league-best 65.2 percent from the field. 

The Rockets were 42-3 with Chris Paul, James Harden and Capela in the lineup last season, a unit that keyed the team's run to the West's best regular-season record (65-17) and ultimate Game 7 loss to eventual champion Golden State in the conference finals.

Now, all three will be back and likely together for some time; Paul agreed to a four-year, $160 million max deal to return earlier this month and Harden inked a four-year, $228 million supermax extension through 2022-23 last summer.

The Rockets also are expected to add Carmelo Anthony.

The Swiss-born Capela had been seeking an extension comparable to those signed in 2016 by Oklahoma City's Steven Adams (four years, $100 million) and Utah's Rudy Gobert (four years, $102 million.