Ayton vs Capela: The Rivalry That Nobody Saw Coming

(© Troy Taormina | 2026 Apr 12)

Earlier this season, Los Angeles Lakers starting center, Deandre Ayton, reportedly made a peculiar remark in the locker room. Fans across the league were shocked to hear, “I’m not no Clint Capela,” coming from his mouth.

The unprompted stray at Rockets’ longtime center raised some eyebrows, and a quick look at their careers shows why.

This is Deandre Ayton’s eighth season in the league after being drafted first overall by the Phoenix Suns. At age 27 this season, he’s currently averaging 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. He’s doing that while shooting 67.1-percent in 27.2 minutes per game.

Going back to 2022, Clint’s 8th season was in Atlanta and he was also 27 years old. He put up an 11.1 point and 11.9 rebound double-double in 27.6 minutes. While he had a lower field goal percentage (61.3), he did get 1.3 blocks compared to Ayton’s 1.0 per game, based on Sports-Reference.

Do those numbers look familiar to you? One could argue Clint Capela was a better player in the prime of his career, which is theoretically where Ayton should currently be. CC definitely gave a whole lot more effort.

Obviously the former number one pick is a little out of touch with reality, as he’s right on par with Capela, who was picked 25th overall. We’ll see if he can extend his career to 12+ years like Clint has.

With both of these teams matched up for Round 1 starting Saturday, we’re likely to see both players in the game at the same time. Stay tuned to see if things get chippy.