The questions for the Houston Rockets at center next season start with Clint Capela — are they going to trade him to try to upgrade on the wing?
Then there are the minutes behind Capela (or whoever starts). Last season Nene gave the Rockets about 13 minutes a night off the bench when healthy, but now he is leaving Houston to test the free agent market, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Another quality big on the market: Houston center Nene is declining his $3.8M option and will become a free agent, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2019
We’ll see if that’s a good move financially (or if he just retires, as has been rumored). Nene is a reliable backup center when healthy and on the court, but in a league deep with good centers used sparingly (as the game evolves away from traditional centers) a lot of players such as Nene end up taking the veteran minimum. Maybe he opted out because Nene has a team interested elsewhere for more, maybe he re-signs in Houston, we will see.
If not Nene, the Rockets may turn to JaVale McGee to fill that role, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Free agent center JaVale McGee will meet with the Houston Rockets on Sunday, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 30, 2019
The shot-blocking, lob finishing big man coming off career year averaging 12.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in 22.3 minutes with the Los Angeles Lakers. https://t.co/W4zZ9oVOyp
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 30, 2019
Those Laker numbers are a little inflated because Los Angeles had to play him and their lineups were constantly in flux, leading to the team leaning on him more than planned. That said, he shot 62.4 percent from the floor and played well, there should be a few teams interested in his services.