The NBA league office has yet to approve the creative deal between the Houston Rockets and Nene, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

The re-signing of Nene to a new contract was announced by the Rockets on Friday, Sept. 6, but as of Thursday morning is still not posted on the NBA’s official transaction wire.

According to reports, the controversial incentives for the veteran Rockets center are tied to games played and wins. Under the current contract, which required the use of Bird rights to give, Nene would earn $2,435,247 if he plays in ten games, $2,500,000 if he plays in 25 games, and another $2,500,000 if he plays in 40 games.

The Rockets, or whatever team Nene ultimately finishes the 2019-20 season with, must also win at least 52 games (Houston went 53-29 last season) for him to earn each incentive.

Thus, should the Rockets or any other team trade the 37-year-old to a non-contender, only the league’s base minimum salary ($2.56 million) would be owed to him, since Nene’s final team not winning 52 games would negate all of the bonuses.

The Rockets would essentially generate a $10 million trade exception through the contract. Nene counts as $10 million in outgoing salary for the Rockets, so the Rockets can use him as salary filler in a trade. This allows the Rockets to make a significant upgrade without needing to part with core players like Clint Capela or P.J. Tucker.

Trading Nene alone could allow the Rockets to take back $12,600,000 in incoming salary (125 percent of $10,000,000 plus $100,000).

Given Nene’s advanced age and Houston’s offseason addition of Tyson Chandler as another backup center, most around the league do not consider it likely that Nene will actually hit any of the bonuses. And even if he did, all it would require to still avoid the bonuses is to trade Nene at the deadline to a team unlikely to win 52 games.

New on E+: Breaking down the bonuses to watch in 2019-20: – KD and Kyrie – Nene and why his contract is in a holding pattern – The financial incentive for Joel Embiid – Why winning a championship matters for Al Horford and Eric Gordon and more….https://t.co/7AZhg3Y6wr — Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 19, 2019

Yet, the bonuses are all considered “likely,” since Nene played in 42 games last season as Houston’s primary backup behind Capela and the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) judges incentives to be likely or unlikely based on the prior season’s production. As a result, the bonuses would be included in the calculations of Nene’s outgoing salary for trades, even though he would not physically be paid any bonus money until after the season.

Thus, while Nene is highly likely to only make $2.56 million this season and not receive any bonus money, the bonuses — if approved — would still count during the season for trade purposes, allowing Houston to potentially use his salary as filler to bring in a roster upgrade once Nene becomes eligible to be traded on Jan. 15, 2020.

However, according to ESPN’s Marks, it appears the NBA is questioning whether this violates the spirit of the CBA. Marks writes:

Although Nene signed with the Houston Rockets on Sept. 6, the NBA has yet to officially approve the deal. The 10-day delay is a result of the NBA discussing internally whether it should disapprove details in the contract, according to multiple sources. Despite the contract technically falling within the limits of the collective bargaining agreement, the NBA is allowed to interpret the agreement as a violation of the spirit of the rules.

It has not been reported which way the league is leaning with its decision, which could set a precedent until at least the next CBA (which is still years away). However, it is unclear what argument they could make to turn down the contract, since it clearly falls within the league’s own rules.

Training camp for the 2019-20 season begins for the Rockets on Saturday, Sept. 28, and Houston would certainly like to have resolution on Nene’s status by then at the latest. Stay tuned.