Denver Nuggets re-sign star centre Nene Hilario – NBA Update
The Denver Nuggets have secured centre Nene to a new contract, fulfilling their top priority of the free agency. The Nuggets star was a free agent this summer and was coveted by a number of teams, including New Jersey Nets, Houston
Rockets and Indiana Pacers.
Nene was arguably the best player available in this year’s free agency but was always likely to resign with his current team. The player has close ties with the city of Denver, where he has played his entire career. Nene’s wife
is also from the city and the player had said earlier his first preference would be the Nuggets.
"He's a Nugget," Denver's executive vice president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri said after the lockout ended, underlining the club’s commitment to re-signing the star.
The Nuggets have secured him on a 5 year contract worth around $67 million. The deal made financial sense for Nene as he would only have been able to sign 4 year contracts with other NBA franchises. The signing will also give Denver
a much needed boost after losing a number of its stars over the summer.
Wilson Chandler, J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin, all free agents, left the United States in the summer because of the NBA lockout and signed deals to play abroad. This left Denver woefully short of quality, after already having lost
super star Carmelo Anthony in the summer.
They have traded in Spanish star Rudy Fernandez alongside Corey Brewer from the Dallas Mavericks to add some depth to their roster. With Nene now secured the franchise can look forward to focusing on a rebuilding process.
Nene would earn around $13.5 million per year with his new deal, which is a significant step up from the $11 million per year he earned under the previous contract. He also had an offer by the Nuggets to extend that contract for
4 years and $50 million, but he decided to turn that down.
There was concern among the fans that Nene could be on his way out of the club after turning down the extension but the front office at Denver had always been confident that they would be able to convince him to stay.
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