Clint Capela Claps Back at Lakers' Deandre Ayton over Viral Comments, 'Lockinn 🤣🤣'

Houston Rockets center Clint Capela didn't take too kindly to Deandre Ayton's recent shade.

After Ayton was heard in the locker room saying that the Los Angeles Lakers were "trying to make me Clint Capela" following Tuesday's loss to the Orlando Magic, the Rockets big man had a response Thursday on his Instagram story:

Ayton didn't seem like he was trying to insult Capela. Rather, he was making a point that he believes his skill set is more varied so that he doesn't have to be limited to being a rim-running lob threat.

It certainly was a bold statement to make given that Capela has been quite successful throughout his NBA career and Ayton has a track record of wearing out his welcome with teams.

Ayton did make the statement after one of his best games of the season. He put up 21 points and 13 rebounds against the Magic.

Part of the Ayton experience, though, is not being able to harness good performances from one game to the next. He followed up that outing against the Magic with a pretty disastrous showing against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.

Ayton scored just two points on 1-of-3 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in 23 minutes. His plus-minus was a season-worst minus-24 in a game the Lakers lost 113-110.

Capela isn't playing a huge role for the Rockets this season. He's averaging just 11.8 minutes per game in 52 appearances as the primary backup to Alperen Şengün.

This back-and-forth does add some intrigue to the Western Conference playoff race down the stretch. Houston has won four of its last five games to climb up to the third in the West. The Lakers have lost three straight and five of their last seven games, falling to sixth in the conference.

Houston and Los Angeles will play back-to-back games at the Toyota Center on March 16 and 18.