Nuggets acquire Jonas Valanciunas from Kings

Nuggets acquire Jonas Valanciunas from Kings

The Denver Nuggets have had a very active start to the offseason.

Less than 24 hours after snagging Cam Johnson from the Brooklyn Nets, the Denver Nuggets have acquired Jonas Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Dario Saric, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Tuesday.

The Sacramento Kings are trading Jonas Valanciunas to the Denver Nuggets for Dario Saric, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/D2Xmbm4DN1

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2025

This is yet another excellent trade from executive Josh Kroenke and the Nuggets’ front office.

While Valanciunas has lost juice and will be entering his age-33 season, he is a noticeable upgrade over the Nuggets’ previous backup centers behind Nikola Jokic, including DeAndre Jordan, Thomas Bryant, PJ Hall, Vlatko Cancar and DeMarcus Cousins, among others.

It also came at a fraction of the cost. While Saric was on a cheap expiring contract, he was stapled to the bench 15 games into the season because he wasn’t impactful in the non-Jokic minutes. He wasn’t a player expected to snatch anyone of value on the trade market by himself.

Lo and behold, that wasn’t the case.

In a limited role with Washington and Sacramento, Valanciunas averaged 10.4 points and 7.7 rebounds last season. He’s a respectable offensive rebounder and should be an impacful, physicla presence against other teams’ second-unit bigs. He’s a clear upgrade; all he does is need to bridge the gap betwen the non-Jokic minutes for 15 minutes per night. At a $10 million figure for the next two seasons, that’s more than viable.

Jakob Poeltl signs four-year extension with Raptors

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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