Rockets forward Nene was all set to return to Houston on a four-year, $15-million contract. That’s already a bargain for a good role player. Unfortunately, he’s too old for that deal to work under the NBA’s standards.
The Houston front office doesn’t mind Nene’s age — he’s 34 — but there’s apparently a little-known rule in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement called the “over-38 rule.” That rule states that a player cannot sign a contract for more than three years if that contract will take them past their 38th birthday.
The over-38 rule has an actual purpose. Without it, franchises could sign veteran players to contracts that are way longer than necessary simply to dilute a player’s annual salary for cap-room purposes. Clearly, the Nene situation is an unfortunate, unintended consequence.
It’s not the end of the world for Nene. He’ll make basically the same money per year on the three-year, $11-million contract he signed instead.
But let’s face it. Although Nene was a very productive role player for the Rockets last season, he’s already well past his prime while coming off a left adductor tear. He’ll be a free agent again before the 2020-21 season, which would’ve been his last year under contract without the over-38 rule. Except by that point, if he’s not ready to retire, his contract offers won’t be nearly as lucrative as this deal that already undersold his talent.
