I love this deal for the Rockets. I was really worried they would have to use all of their MLE to keep him here. Getting him for less than $4 million a year for four years is a steal. There were times when he was the second most reliable player on the roster and the second best player overall last season. Bringing him back was imperative.
Can't believe the negativity around this deal. Even if it's a burden in year 3 or 4, it's a huge pick up for next season.
I'll say it again, Nene was a big reason why the Rockets kept the ship a float when Capela went down. In the playoffs, he was invaluable to the team. Basically won Game 4 for us, himself. Getting a back up center for 3.5M/year is an absolute STEAL! His game has aged well and will continue to be the guy we saw last year for at least another 2-3 years.
Dude who cares about it being guaranteed? It's less than 4 million a year. That's not even really a contract lol. If we need to move him off for some reason it's no problem at all. Regardless he probably retires before the end anyway. But if he doesn't his contract being on the books won't matter. With the new cap spike his deal is barely more expensive than the minimum lol
4 million dollars is basically couch money these days. If we wanted a shorter deal, we would have had to use our MLE. This is the only way we keep him and the full MLE, it's pretty simple. A no brainer really.