Perhaps the most sought-out player left on the free agent market, Nene is now off the board and has officially re-signed with the Denver Nuggets on a five-year deal that could be worth more than $67 million.
Nene was courted by teams such as New Jersey, Golden State, Indiana, Houston and possibly a few more, but ultimately decided to stay in Denver, the city he's been in since his NBA career started in 2002. However, it wasn't his intention to ever leave Denver and his suitors knew that, which is likely why they didn't push harder to sign Nene.
According to sources, the contract will pay the forward an average of $13.5 million over the next five seasons -- no team could offer five years, which is possibly why he stayed.
Earlier Tuesday, the Nuggets acquired guard Rudy Fernandez and forward Corey Brewer from Dallas in exchange for a future second-round pick. This trade benefits the Nuggets, as they lost three players to China when the lockout was still in place -- Wilson Chandler, J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin.They still hope to re-sign Chandler, who is likely to return to the United States in March. There is no doubt that Chandler is one of the marquee free agents still on the board, but no team can sign him, as he is still currently under contract in China.
But yesterday was Nene's day, as he could likely stay in Denver for the rest of his professional career. It was clearly Denver's No. 1 priority to re-sign the big man and they have successfully done that, as they look to make some noise in the playoffs.
Nene's wife is from Denver and he has close ties to the organization and is a favorite among the community.
He has said in the past that he has copious amounts of respect for the team, as they helped him through a serious knee injury just three minutes into their opening night game of the 2005-06 season -- Nene was also diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2008 and has since successfully beaten the bout.
Last summer, Nene and his agent, Dan Fegan, turned down an offer from the Nuggets that would have paid him $50 million over four seasons. He would have made a little over $12 million per season, so they should be glad to strike the newest deal, as he is guaranteed almost $2 million more per season, and perhaps more depending on the incentives of the contract.
Nene, born Maybyner Rodney Hilario, was chosen with the seventh overall selection by the New York Knicks in the 2002 NBA Draft -- he was traded by the Knicks on draft day with Marcus Camby and Mark Jackson to Denver for Antonio McDyess, Frank Williams and a 2003 second-round draft pick.
Over his career, Nene has played in 527 games (424 starts), while accumulating averages of 12.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, while shooting 56.3 percent from the field. His best season perhaps came last season, as he started 75 games and shot a career-best 61.5 percent from the floor -- he also averaged 14.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2 assists per game for the Nuggets in his ninth year in the NBA.
