Unlike the Brazilian basketball league, NBA ranks above when it comes to competition and financial investments. Nene has been able to compete with some of the top basketball players in the world and has managed to find the height of financial success along the way.
Maybyner Rodney Hilário "Nene" was born on September 13, 1982, in Sao Carlos, Brazil to parents Jose Paulo Hilario and Carmen Hilario. During his early years, he used to play soccer but later started playing basketball in the mid-90s.
As he was the youngest in both his family and his friend group, he was nicknamed Nene.
Nene began his professional career in 1999 playing for Vasco da Gama where he played till 2002. His professional play in his home country earned him an NBA pre-draft camp invitation in 2002. He was picked by the New York Knicks in the dart with the seventh overall and was traded to the Denver Nuggets.
Nene's NBA career began as a bench player for the Nuggets but was later ended as a starter. He ended his first NBA season with a record stats of 10.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. He earned the NBA All-Rookie first team honors.
For the 2003-2004 season, Nene started in 77 games and had an average of 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals. Nene missed most of the games in the following season due to injury. He played in only 55 games of the 2004-05 season and had a record average of 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds. He tore his ACL in his right knee in the opening game of the 2005-06 season and missed out 81 games of the season.
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Despite Nene missing games due to injury, the Nuggets still resigned him to a six-year, $60 million contract on July 20, 2006. After his return from the injury, he averaged 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds in 64 games of the 2006-07 season. Nene Continued to play for the Nuggets with variable performance in each season. It was in 2009-10 season that he first started in all 82 games of the season. He averaged 13.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, career-high 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks at the end of the season.
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The Nuggets once again re-signed Nene and this time to a five-year, $67 million contract on December 14, 2011. This time around, he was not able to play the whole of the contract season with the Nuggets as he was traded to the Washington Wizards on March 15, 2012. In his first season with the Wizards, he averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 39 total games.
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After three more seasons with the team, Nene signed with the Houston Rockets on July 20, 2016. His debut game for the Rockets was on October 26, 2016, in their season opener. At the end of the season, he recorded 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.0 assists. Due to a strained right calf, Nene missed the start of the 2018-19 season.
Nene married his longtime partner Lauren Prothe on February 14th, 2009. The pair started dating each other in 2007 when they meet each other at his friend's home. After two years together, he decided to take his relationship to the next level and made Lauren his wife.
He has been blessed with a son of his relationship. His won was born in 2012 and is named Mateos Hilario.
Nene's financial value is estimated to be at $45 million. As someone who began his career playing basketball in Brazil, he has come a long way to the top of the field in NBA. He re-signed with a 3 year,$10,954,440 contract with the Houston Rockets On July 6, 2017.
The contract puts his base salary value at $3,651,480.
The estimation of his net worth value does consist his personal assets like his 10,000 square foot mansion in the Mile High City which he had purchased in 2012.
