Jonas Valanciunas

Post #1 » by **THE J0KER** » Wed Jul 2, 2025 7:41 am

JV is a perfect old-school backup for Nikola Jokic because he is an elite rebounder, which we need after our 2nd best rebounder MPJ was gone. Valanciunas is also an elite FT% shooter, which was the soft spot of the previous Joker backups (Plumlee and Jordan). Jonas' defensive flaws are notable only vs the best NBA offenses, but he will play as Jokic's backup vs opponents' 2nd units. I like this deal!

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Post #2 » by **NuggetsWY** » Wed Jul 2, 2025 2:01 pm

Valanciunas makes a nice backup for Jokic. But Jokic & Valanciunas on the court at the same time will also be nice. They probably won't spend a lot of time together, but against certain teams they could be very effective.

Jstock12 · Post #3 » by **Jstock12** » Wed Jul 2, 2025 5:57 pm

His production has always been directly correlated to the minutes he's been given. He hasn't really declined much on that end. If you give him 15mpg he'll give you 9 PPG & 6 RPG on 50-55% FG on a nightly basis. Good teammate/vet as well. Likes to joke around. Many former teammates rave about him as a person. So chemistry wise it's also a good get. Many Lithuanians are really excited for this opportunity because we want JV to become the first Lithuanian NBA champion. He deserves it after how much he has sacrificed for our national team, never skipping any national team summer for almost 20 years.

skywalker33 · Post #4 » by **skywalker33** » Fri Jul 4, 2025 4:18 pm

Well, IF Val leaves for Europe, feels like SAC should at least owe us a draft choice, especially if they were aware of the possibility. A 2nd would suffice, but cap space IS worth something.

Post #5 » by **NuggetsWY** » Sat Jul 5, 2025 4:37 pm

skywalker33 wrote:Well, IF Val leaves for Europe, feels like SAC should at least owe us a draft choice, especially if they were aware of the possibility. A 2nd would suffice, but cap space IS worth something.

Well, maybe that's the morally right thing to do, but when do morals fit in the NBA? We'll just have to accept things as they happen. :meditate:

skywalker33 · Post #6 » by **skywalker33** » Mon Jul 7, 2025 1:56 am

Shams reporting the Nuggets trying to hold Val to his word and holding up his contract.

Jstock12 · Post #7 » by **Jstock12** » Wed Jul 9, 2025 5:08 pm

skywalker33 wrote:Shams reporting the Nuggets trying to hold Val to his word and holding up his contract.

I hope so. Please save Valanciunas from himself. Panathinaikos would be a bad fit basketball wise, since he wouldn't even be a starter on that team. Mathias Lessort is an NBA caliber center, and would probably even be a better option as a Jokic backup than JV.

But I guess he's mostly doing it for family reasons, as his wife and kids left the US the moment Valanciunas got traded from Washington to Sacramento. I suppose that's probably when this Panathinaikos deal started to get traction. Long before the Saric-JV trade.

skywalker33 · Post #8 » by **skywalker33** » Thu Jul 10, 2025 3:03 am

Looks like JV has received the 2nd year of his contract turned from a TO to a guaranteed 2nd year. He's now going to suit up as Joker's backup thru the 2026-2027 season. Good news, we're in Title contention mode again.