Wild rumor suggests Nuggets have already lost their biggest offseason addition

What a buzzkill
Lithuania v Slovenia: Classification 5-8 - FIBA Basketball World Cup
Lithuania v Slovenia: Classification 5-8 - FIBA Basketball World Cup | Yong Teck Lim/GettyImages

The Nuggets have been celebrating their dominant offseason that has come together over the past few days, but there may be a major hitch in the plans as a new report suggests that newly acquired Jonas Valanciunas may leave the NBA for a contract in Europe.

The rumor started early on Thursday when Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews reported that Valanciunas was preparing for a shocking NBA exit to go overseas and play in the EuroLeague. The rumor was confirmed by multiple sources, with Marc Stein adding that Valanciunas may seek a buyout from his NBA contract.

He is being lured to Europe to play for Panathanaikos, a basketball club in Athens, Greece, that is said to be offering Jonas a three-year contract.

Kings/Nuggets trade not official until Sunday

The trade between the Nuggets and Kings that swapped Valanciunas with Dario Saric is only agreed upon for now and can’t be made official until Sunday, when the league’s moratorium ends. Technically, Jonas is still under contract with the Kings. 

Stein added that the Kings need the trade to go through for salary cap reasons as they have several other things in the works, but the Nuggets are likely trying to convince Valanciunas to stay in the NBA, at least for one more season.

Losing Valanciunas would be a big blow for Denver

Denver has had an amazing offseason, but this trade being canceled and the Nuggets losing Valanciunas would be a major damper. The depth on the team would still be strong, but the idea of having such a competent veteran center backing up Nikola Jokic was an amazing one.

Val would have been the best backup center Jokic has had in ages, a guy who can bruise and batter teams down low and on the glass. He can score around the hoop and is a reliable presence on both ends whenever Jokic sits.

On top of that, getting off of Saric’s contract was a huge win for the Nuggets, and doing so without sacrificing an asset while taking back a helpful player was very exciting. Denver’s other additions will be very helpful on the wing, but losing Valanciunas would bring back a big hole at backup big man.

The Nuggets would be back to relying on the likes of Zeke Nnaji and Saric, while hoping that DaRon Holmes is ready to contribute. This shouldn’t take too much shine off of the Nuggets’ excellent offseason, but it definitely knocks it down a few pegs and means there’s more work to be done.

Hopefully, Jokic and the Nuggets can convince Valanciunas to stay. After all, he does have 10.4 million reasons to stick it out for one more year.