Nene is Relishing His Twilight Years—And So Are The Rockets

It’s late November and the Houston locker room is rambunctious. The Rockets just beat the New York Knicks in a game they trailed by 22 points in the first half.

Reporters cluster around the usual suspects—James Harden, Trevor Ariza, and Clint Capela. The background noise picks up when longtime team trainer Keith Jones walks in to make his usual postgame rounds, taking note of any nicks or bruises the players might have sustained during the game.

In the opposite corner of the room, however, there are no cameras, and there is considerably less noise. Just me, and Nene—a tower of a man, who stands by his locker, gently massaging his shoulder. He looks somewhat annoyed.

Jones walks up and stops for a moment.

How bad is it?

Nene responds with a hesitant groan.

Will you be okay?

“I’ll be fine,” he says with a laugh. “Just more hard work.”

The Brazilian big man missed the next game with a sore right shoulder. In what figures to be one of his final seasons, Nene has missed 19 of 60 games. The 35-year-old is no longer able to play through the kinds of injuries he once treated like speed bumps. After all, this is his sixteenth year in the league. His career has literally taken him to another continent, and while he has seen success, it didn’t come without its challenges.

Nene first had to adjust to life in the United States after leaving his hometown of Sao Carlo, Brazil as a young man. Then he had to adjust to the changing league—and finally to the slowing down of his body. There were also the injuries: torn ACL, sprained MCL, torn meniscus. In 2008, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which tested his patience, his family, and his faith.

Nene always got through the grind in his own way. In his younger days, when some teammates would invite him out to party at nightclubs, Nene would decline. Instead, he would head home and pour himself a glass of wine. All these years later, he still goes home, but now he just rests and relaxes. His lifelong friend and current business manager, Alex Santos also notes that Nene is big on alkaline water and natural orange juice. It’s a big part of how he’s been able to stay in the league for such a long time.

“When you have good mentors and vets to look up to, you listen to their convos,” Nene told VICE Sports “Watch what they say and what they tell you. There’s always a purpose behind it. When I was younger, they told me not to dunk as much in practice because it wouldn’t count for anything extra. Dunk. Layup. Both [are] two points.”

As times change, so does the sport. Today’s NBA favors pace and space. It’s played quicker and each season more threes are launched than the one before. This has altered how big men are viewed and valued. Those who can shoot are at a premium, and traditional centers are becoming extinct. Nene’s time in the league has seen him witness “three different generations,” as he describes it. He was part of dual big lineups (most notably alongside Marcus Camby), saw three-point shooters invade the power forward position, and now the term “stretch five” is used to describe prominent big men like DeMarcus Cousins, Marc Gasol, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

“What’s next?” he says. “Stretch Six? Seven? Eight? It’s crazy! At the end of the day, the good players adapt and those who can’t don’t stay in the league for long.”

Part of Nene’s ability to evolve comes from his background. Basketball is taught a bit different in Brazil than it is in the United States. He credits the fact that fundamentals are drilled into international players at a young age. “Boxing out, working on both hands, and shooting midrange, bounce pass, high pass, fake pass, they’re all fundamental,” he said.

Nene’s blend of modern thinking and old school skills works in the Rockets rotation, and in concert with fellow center Clint Capela. They may not be James Harden and Chris Paul, but Nene and Capela create their own problems for opponents.

“You have Clint, who’s more high energy and rim running,” Rockets guard Eric Gordon told VICE Sports. “Then you have Nene, who’s more skilled. He’s an excellent passer and post player. You know when he’s on the floor he’s going to make the right read.”

Nene’s basketball IQ and court vision really come down to his ability to scan the defense’s strategy before responding with a proper way to punish it.

“You just have to read the game and see where the open space is,” he said. “Sometimes, they trap. And when they decide not to trap, you have to roll hard. And if the weak-side decides to help, we have a great group of shooters.”

His perceptive intelligence is why he’s so valued in the Rockets high-powered offensive system, and why Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni puts so much trust in him. Some of his work might not show up in the box score, but the Rockets understand his value both as a player, and now as a mentor for the emerging Capela.

Twice in a recent marquee matchup against the Golden State Warriors, the defending champions tried to deny Harden the ball. With the shot clock winding down, Capela was forced to put it on the ground and create offense for himself. He scored on both attempts. The first being a crafty Eurostep around Zaza Pachulia, and the next a nifty pump fake followed by a floater. Both moves were a product of his work with Nene.

“He’s learning, he’s learning! He’s improving always, as he should, because in this league, you have to get better every year,” Nene said. “Before, he would try to finish with just one hand, now he’s using both, soft touches around the rim. But you can’t be satisfied on just that though, you have to keep going.”

Last year, Houston was eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in a back-and-forth second-round series. D’Antoni and the team still point to Nene’s groin injury in Game 4 as the series’ real turning point. Without him guarding LaMarcus Aldridge, Capela and Ryan Anderson were unable to stop the bleeding.

The following offseason, Houston initially had offered Nene a 4-year, $15-million. But due to a hiccup in the CBA, famously called the “Over-38” rule, he wasn’t allowed to finalize that deal. Daryl Morey and the front office eventually settled on a three-year deal, worth $11 million. The cap hit is small, but it’s no small thing for a front office as savvy as Houston’s to spend big on an aging big man.

In Nene, Houston has more than a basketball player. His presence resonates in the locker room, on the court, and in the community.

But at this point in his advanced career, family and stability mattered more to him than the extra four million he “lost.” All things considered, when this current contract ends, Nene is likely to hang up his sneakers for good.

“Oh, I’m gonna retire here,” he says. “For sure.”