Shams: Kings Trade Jonas Valunciunas to the Nuggets for Dario Saric; *UPDATE* - Trade is Now Official

[LightTheBeam]

Kings fans, are the Kings tanking this coming season?

I hope so.

Not sure of the criticism. Kings should want to be bad. Schroder isn't my favorite follow up signing, but maybe hes an asset down the line? He seems to always be tradable.

Opened up mins to develop Maxime in the process.

[Exp0sed]

Valanciunas gives that bench an actual option at having some sort of identity. He still changes the game when he's out there on the court with how much of a constant threat he is near the basket. He's improved his shooting and passing enough over the years where he doesn't have to be near the hoop all the time either. Murray/Valanciunas screening action should be enough to beat up most bench units.

I don't love that you can't play Val and Jokic together, but overall this is a really great move.

That’s the part I don’t like about this move and why I wish they’d gotten Horford instead. How many minutes will Val play in the playoffs, like 5 per game? Horford would’ve fit so well with or without Jokic on the floor.

Jokic can handle the heavy mins in the playoffs IF he doesn't need to play heavy mins in the rs literally every single game, because the Nuggets get obliterated by anyone and everyone if the few mins he's off the court

Val can still be a spot starter when Jokic doesn't play. Obviously he'd be a below avg. Center as a starter but that's still a huge upgrade from Deandre Jordan etc.

Who knows where Horford wants to go? he might surprise us and just retire as,a Celtic. even if he does leave, he's got a long list of suitors and i doubt he'd pick the Nuggets

One bird in hand, ya know..



Sent from my SM-A055F using RealGM mobile app

[ball_takes23]

Feels like the Nuggets are the Bucks are going through a simliar exercise right now

not exactly. the Nuggets are making smart moves, the Bucks are making desperate moves.

[Exp0sed]

Who is Nuggets GM now anyway?

Technically nobody but it’s Jon Wallace making these moves. He was with the T Wolves front office most recently.

Ben Tenzer was officially given the job last week, but before that was the interim when Calvin was fired and used to run their G-League team. Wallace works under Ben.

As for questions why they didn't make moves like this before, Josh Kroenke obviously wouldn't let the front office trade Michael Porter Jr to do it. Whether that's because of Missouri connection or what, only Josh knows.

Great offseason for Nuggets.

Yeah, i think it's about MPJ being a part of this group from the start and the personal connection. owner wanted to try to avoid the obvious MPJ trade, that needed to get done

Sent from my SM-A055F using RealGM mobile app

[LeBronSpaghetti]

So do the nuggets still have room for one more move then? I think they can still sign one more rotation calibre player no?

[Stone]

I wonder what it would look like with both Joker and Valunciunas out there at the same time.

I really think this Nuggets team can come out of the west.

[nomansland]

This is amazing.

What an offseason.

[SkyBill40]

Denver has managed to put together a decent offseason thus far. If their intent is to stay competitive, they didn't have much choice.

[JM00n69]

The new FO has done more in the first 24hrs of free agency opening this year than Booth did in his whole time with the team. This feels unreal

[kan_t]

Feels like the Nuggets are the Bucks are going through a simliar exercise right now

Don't think they're comparable. The Nuggets just went 7 games against the championship team and now they have improved their depth by adding a decent center and a role player who understands very well about their system.

Another big difference is that they have total control on their own 26, 28, 30 and 31 first round picks.

[LeBronSpaghetti]

Now go sign Brogdon

[Wolfgang630]

The first fking time in jokers career with a legit backup

[JM00n69]

Nugs still have $5.2M left of the MLE and one spot. Could do with another bench wing now

[Bank Shot]

Awesome move for the Nugs. Huge upgrade on playing guys out of position and the corpse of DeAndre Jordan. They still need to add another shooter, though. The current roster is still very light on shooting.

[TheAlchemist]

I love my man JV. Amazing heart and honestly he is a great backup. Had he taken care of his defensive issues and developed a better offensive game, he's a top 10 center in the league.

Denver is going Banana's. That's a big, dynamic, playmaking team, with bucket getters. Wow.

[BigGargamel]

The Nuggets got a legitimate backup center? Can this be life?

What a difference not having Calvin Booth around makes.

[OriginalRed]

Great moves by the Denver FO but they still won't be able to win a championship again unless Jamal Murray can play like how he played in 2023. If they get that, they're the best team in the West imo.

[JujitsuFlip]

Nuggets not messing around!

[RIPskaterdude]

JV was better than Sabonis 2nd half of the season

[John Murdoch]

1 yr of westbrook will put any gm on the hotseat