Former Los Angeles Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic signed a one-year deal with the Houston Rockets, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The deal reunites him with his former Atlanta Hawks teammate and friend Clint Capela.
Per Charania, it was Rockets executives who recruited Bogdanovic to Houston, giving them a playoff-proven shooter, something the team was missing last season; now, the question is whether they can get a veteran point guard to run the Rockets until Fred VanVleet returns from injury.
In an interview with The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner in 2021, both spoke about their friendship. Capela shared that there was a time when the two of them sat in Capela’s car and talked for hours.
“That’s just Bogi,” Capela said. “That’s how his mentality is, and that’s how my mentality is, too. We don’t hesitate to help one another. There are times where we’ve just sat in my car and talked for over an hour. This just happens naturally. It isn’t something that is scheduled. It’s within the flow of life. I know he doesn’t mind doing stuff like that, and that’s why I enjoy it so much.”
“He’s more than a teammate to me. He’s my friend,” Capela said of Bogdanović. “Sometimes guys want to leave (the practice facility) and have their alone time. With him, he’s my friend outside of here. It makes it really special to me, because sometimes, NBA teammates don’t have that off the court. I know there’s not a relationship like that in the NBA between players like we have. It’s just so simple with him. We always have a great time together. He’s a simple person. I’m a simple person. It’s not about us being millionaires or us being in the NBA, it’s just the personalities we have makes it special.”
Meanwhile, Bogdanovic shared that he didn’t know that Capela was from Europe because he never had the opportunity to play against them. Bogdanovic revealed that Capela understood him because of their similar cultures.
“I don’t know Clint from Europe because I never played against him, but I know he’s from Europe, so automatically it’s like we know each other,” Bogdanović said. “He understands my culture, and I understand his culture. We automatically clicked.”
“Most of the European guys — especially someone like him who is genuine and different, and I’m kind of the same way — it’s just easy to talk with him,” Capela said of Bogdanović. “The subjects we talk about are just interesting to me. I feel like we can give our opinions to one another and understand each other. I feel like it’s just what Europeans do. We can get coffee or just sit in my car and talk. That close connection is just something Europeans do at an early age.”
As for his addition to the Rockets, Bodanovic will also provide an outlet on the court for future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant, who the focal point for the opposites scouting report on a nightly basis.
In the past, Durant went viral after his now-teammate in the 2024 Olympics hit a three and did Carmelo Anthony’s trademark celebration when the USA faced off against Serbia.
Not too long after that, Kevin Durant went on a tear, dropping 21 to help Team USA overcome a 13-point deficit against Serbia to win. Former ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose asked Durant at a Fanatics Fest Panel in 2024 whether Bogdanovic’s celebration had poked the bear.
“Nah, we weren’t even trippin’ off that,” Durant said. “They were just hittin’ crazy 3s. They were makin’ every shot. At some point, the law of averages is gonna come back around, and we’re gonna get back into this game. In the fourth quarter, we end up winning by 20 points.
Durant also revealed that they didn’t draw many plays in the fourth quarter.
“Once we cut it to five, we all knew, like, ‘Alright, this is our game now,'” Durant said. “And most of that fourth quarter, we didn’t really call too many plays, we were just getting it off the glass, pushing, just making the smart reads, and that’s what basketball at the highest level is all about.”
