NBA free agency rumors: Nene to sign with the Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets have found their replacement for Dwight Howard at starting center by signing former Washington Wizards big man Nene.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports, the Houston Rockets have agreed to a deal with 14-year NBA veteran center Nene to replace Dwight Howard in the Rockets’ starting frontcourt.

The Rockets needed to solidify their starting center position after Howard opted out of the final three years of his deal with Houston to ultimately sign a three-year deal with his hometown team, the Atlanta Hawks.

Signing Nene isn’t a long-term solution for the Rockets — he will be 34 years old when the 2016-17 begins — but it does add stability to a weakened Houston frontcourt. Nene had spent 10 seasons with the Denver Nuggets and five with the Washington Wizards, starting 612 of 804 career regular season games.

Houston opted to splurge in 2016 NBA free agency on improving its jump shooting options by signing a pair of former New Orleans Pelicans in power forward Ryan Anderson and shooting guard Eric Gordon.

Those two signings help Houston become an elite offense under new head coach Mike D’Antoni, as they will open up the offense for ball-dominant go-to scorer James Harden on drive-and-kicks.

Though Nene doesn’t offer the high upside that Howard did, he may prove to be a better team fit for the Rockets in 2016-17. Nene has raw power in the low post offensively and is an adept rebounding presence for put back opportunities. In his 14-year NBA career, Nene has averaged 12.2 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game in 28.3 minutes per contest.

Houston could have gone after more high-profile big men that are still in their prime, but the signings of both Anderson and Gordon easily made Nene the best center option still available on the open market for the Rockets to pursue.

For more NBA free agency news, please check out our NBA free agency category page.