The Nuggets intend to hold Jonas Valanciunas to his NBA contract commitment despite his reported interest in an offer to return to the EuroLeague, a league source confirmed to The Denver Post on Sunday.
Denver is set to acquire Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings in a trade that was agreed on last Tuesday but hasn’t been finalized yet with the league office. On Thursday, a report surfaced out of Europe that Valanciunas was considering a three-year contract offer from the prominent Greek club Panathinaikos.
But the 33-year-old Lithuanian center is still under contract through 2027 in the NBA, where the Nuggets are inheriting his $10.4 million salary for the 2025-26 season.
If Valanciunas wants to play in Europe, he needs to work out a buyout with the Nuggets that would release him from his NBA contract and would likely require him to forfeit his salary. Then he can receive a letter of clearance from the international basketball body FIBA, allowing him to sign with Panathinaikos.
But the Nuggets traded for Valanciunas with a vital role in mind for him, and they have a clear motive to make him honor his contract. On paper, the longtime starter should be Nikola Jokic’s best backup center in years, the type of player who can play significant minutes and ease the physical strain on Jokic. The three-time MVP averaged 36.7 minutes per game last season, fourth-most in the NBA.
Valanciunas was in Europe as of this weekend. He’s also listed on Lithuania’s preliminary national team roster for the upcoming FIBA EuroBasket tournament.
Refusing to release Valanciunas does involve some risk for the Nuggets. If he still feels averse to playing in the NBA when he reports to Denver for training camp later this summer, it could establish an awkward environment around the team going into a new season.
But that might just be a chance worth taking for Denver, considering the shortage of centers available on the open market at this point. Valanciunas is a known commodity, with career averages of 13.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. If the Nuggets did reach a buyout agreement, they would be left scrambling for frontcourt depth after the majority of offseason moves have already been completed around the league.
The silver lining: Denver would have access to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, a salary cap mechanism worth $14.1 million.
As of Sunday afternoon, veteran big man Al Horford was still uncommitted in free agency. He’s been linked to the Golden State Warriors for most of the last week, so he might not be available for much longer. Nonetheless, he would be the natural place for Denver to start its search for a Plan B if it came to that.
Longtime Raptors big Chris Boucher is another option, but he would be another smaller center at 6-foot-9, similar to Denver’s DaRon Holmes II.
Reports have circulated that Nikola Vucevic’s trade value has declined in Chicago enough for the Bulls to contemplate buying him out. While that seems unlikely at his $21.5 million salary, he’s a player who could feasibly choose Denver as his next destination if given the opportunity to be a free agent. He and Jokic are friends off the court.
Options are otherwise limited. The Nuggets could identify potential trade partners with a center surplus, such as Phoenix and the soon-to-be relegated Nick Richards. But the team’s preferred solution seems to be keeping Valanciunas at this point.
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