Per Shams Charania of ESPN, the Denver Nuggets are waiving their backup center Jonah Valanciunas. The Nuggets had to decide today whether to fully guarantee his $10 million salary for this coming year or waive him for a $2 million dollar expenditure and cap hit. As expected, they chose the latter.
Even owing Jonas Valanciunas $2 million was a choice they made last year to rework the final year of his deal, so that his salary could potentially be included in a trade. Originally no part of this $10 million was guaranteed, but Denver thought they might need to include him in a trade once the new league year started. Unfortunately, that trade never materialized and Denver replaced Jonas with Marvin Bagley III, whom they signed to a veteran minimum contract in free agency.
Valanciunas averaged 8.7 points and 5.1 rebounds a game last year for Denver as their backup center, but the few minutes he got with star center Nikola Jokic were not productive, and unfortunately he was a foul machine in limited minutes averaging 7.5 per 100 possessions to lead the league. He received an offer from Greece to play in Europe last year, which did not work out when Denver enforced their rights to his contract after they traded for him. Shams indicates in his tweet that he may have NBA suitors, but this year it looks like he may be playing for the Lithuanian team Zalgiris. Reports are that he may have signed a 2 year deal with them to return to Europe, but it is not confirmed by NBA media yet.
As for the Nuggets, their merry-go-round at backup center continues, and they may choose to stretch the $2 million they owe Valanciunas over 3 years to lower the cap impact this year. They still have several roster spots to fill and work to do this offseason. But what they will not have is Big Val back at center. Good luck wherever your next stop is, Jonas!
