{"id":779565,"date":"2026-07-05T00:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T00:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779565\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T00:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T00:24:24","slug":"jonas-valanciunas-nba-future-draws-huge-lakers-nuggets-new-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779565\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonas Valanciunas NBA future draws huge Lakers, Nuggets new update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the Lakers continue to show interest in Jonas Valanciunas, the Nuggets could become open to exploring a trade. And with the veteran center nearing a move to Zalgiris Kaunas, growing interest from NBA teams may ultimately keep the Lithuanian big man in the league.<\/p>\n<p>Jonas Valanciunas&#8217; future in the NBA remains a huge question mark, as <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/news-251266-lakers-interested-in-jonas-valanciunas.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Los Angeles Lakers have emerged as interested<\/a> in his play for this year&#8217;s offseason.<\/p>\n<p>            <a class=\"article-widget__photo\" href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/players\/6504-jonas-valanciunas.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-436620-plsm.jpg\" alt=\"Jonas  Valan\u010di\u016bnas\"\/><br \/>\n            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n                    MIN<br \/>\n                    13\n                <\/p>\n<p>\n                PTS<br \/>\n                8.4\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                FG%<br \/>\n                63.2%\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                    REB<br \/>\n                    4.9\n                <\/p>\n<p>\n                    AS<br \/>\n                    1.1\n                <\/p>\n<p>Apparently, according to NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, the Denver Nuggets are welcoming a potential trade with the Lakers involving the Lithuanian big man.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Looney remains on the Lakers&#8217; radar, sources say, as does Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas. The latter, remember, was a Lakers free agent target two summers ago before Valanciunas opted to sign a multiyear deal with Washington instead,&#8221; the <a href=\"https:\/\/marcstein.substack.com\/p\/july-fourth-nba-trade-free-agency\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> indicated.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sources say that the Lakers&#8217; interest, furthermore, is certainly welcomed by the Nuggets, who have made Valanciunas available in trade conversations since Denver&#8217;s season ended and especially in connection with the recent draft as the Nuggets explored various deals while also shopping the No. 26 overall pick.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Valanciunas is under a three-year, $30.3 million deal originally signed in 2024, but his status for the 2026\u201327 season is quite intriguing after landing a contract restructuring with the Nuggets.<\/p>\n<p>Valanciunas holds a $10 million salary for next season, but only $2 million is guaranteed. If the Nuggets do not waive him by July 8, he will earn the full amount for 2026-27.<\/p>\n<p> Growing NBA interest now in Jonas Valanciunas? <\/p>\n<p>In the wake of his looming contract deadline with the Nuggets and his <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/news-250406-jonas-valanciunas-zalgiris-nba-future-euroleague.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pending move to Zalgiris Kaunas<\/a> should he get cut by Denver, Jonas Valanciunas is reportedly drawing significant consideration now around the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>This interest is deeply rooted among teams looking to add size and frontcourt presence, as added by Stein and Fischer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;NBA interest in the 34-year-old only seems to be growing given the increasing need for proven size that so many teams feel,&#8221; both insiders wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Valanciunas has proven himself to be a productive big man in the NBA this past season. Across 65 appearances as Nikola Jokic&#8217;s backup, he averaged 8.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists while maintaining a highly efficient 58.2% field goal percentage for Denver.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/plus?utm_source=basketnews_com&amp;utm_medium=bn_plus&amp;utm_id=UA-259273-31&amp;utm_campaign=banners_free_content_for_not_members_bottom_6\" class=\"banners_paid_content_info_block_white banners-paid-content-info-block-white\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                                                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bn-plus-img img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bn-plus.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Thank you for reading us! 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It helps us a lot, and we are committed to delivering you the very latest basketball news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Lakers continue to show interest in Jonas Valanciunas, the Nuggets could become open to exploring a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-779565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}