While there’s still no resolution on his NBA contract situation, Jonas Valanciunas appears to be moving forward with his reported plan to sign with the EuroLeague club Panathinaikos. According to Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops, Valanciunas arrived in Athens on Friday with the intent of undergoing a physical and finalizing the terms of a lucrative three-year deal.
However, Valanciunas remains under contract in the NBA and will be traded from Sacramento to Denver once the July moratorium ends. Reports have indicated that the Nuggets have long had interest in Valanciunas and envisioned a major role for him on their 2025/26 roster, so they’re hoping to convince him to honor his NBA contract.
Still, with all signs pointing to Valanciunas desiring a return to Europe, it certainly seems as if he and his new NBA team are headed for buyout discussions. In that scenario, the Nuggets would likely require him to give up most – if not all – of the $10.4MM guaranteed salary he’s owed next season. That would give Denver some spending flexibility to return to free agency or the trade market in search of a new backup center for Nikola Jokic.
We have more from around the world of international hoops:
- Three-time NBA All-Defensive first-teamer Serge Ibaka is leaving Real Madrid, the Spanish team announced on Wednesday. The 35-year-old big man averaged 6.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per night during EuroLeague play for the eventual Liga ACB champions. This was Ibaka’s first year with Real Madrid after playing the previous season with Bayern Munich. It has now been more than two years since he was last on an NBA roster.
- Veteran wing Jordan Nwora is leaving Anadolu Efes, the Turkish club announced (via Twitter). Nwora, who played four seasons in the NBA, primarily with the Bucks and Pacers, has agreed to a deal with Crvena Zvezda out of Belgrade, Serbia, per a Eurohoops report (via Twitter).
- Free agent guard Raul Neto has signed with San Pablo Burgos for the upcoming season, the team announced. The 33-year-old Neto, who appeared in 435 regular season NBA games from 2015-23, played limited minutes in 2024/25 with Barcelona. San Pablo Burgos competes in Spain’s Primera FEB, which is the country’s second division league.
- Sergio Scariolo has agreed to return to Real Madrid as their head coach, according to Eurohoops.net. The Italian coach, who won an NBA title as an assistant for the 2018/19 Raptors, has spent most of his career in the EuroLeague. He had a previous tenure with Real Madrid from 1999-2002, and has been coaching Virtus Bologna for the past three seasons. Scariolo, who has four EuroBasket championships and a pair of Olympic medals to his name, has agreed to a three-year deal with Real Madrid and will officially join the club after coaching the Spanish national team one last time at this year’s EuroBasket tournament.
The NBA is going to have to start adding non compete clauses into contracts.
Either they honor their contract or they don’t play anywhere else.
I get not being able to go to another NBA team, obviously, but I don’t see why you can’t go to a totally different league half way around the world. You better be okay with giving up all of your NBA money first, of course. And the players rights should remain with their NBA team for the duration of their contract.
If a player is willing to do all that I say let them go
Not NBA’s right. If a player wants to play elsewhere non-NBA his contract doesn’t matter. He doesn’t get paid so there is no issue.
they are athletes not business executives
not being able to resign and go work somewhere else is their non compete clause equivalent
It’s not like they’re losing actual talent to these Euro clubs. Normally its past-their-prime vets or fringe NBA guys. Non-compete isn’t necessary.
No need to add anything. That’s already the rule. JV can’t play anywhere else unless DEN agrees to terminate his contract, and nothing requires them to do that.
No different than any employment agreement, except employers in the real world would generally require the employee to pay to get out of the contract (yes, in addition to giving up their salary, which is a given if the contract ends). Even in sports. Euro players (and their NBA rights holders) routinely pay Euro teams buyout amounts to vitiate their Euro contracts, so they can come to the NBA. The Euro clubs wouldn’t even have to accept a buyout if the player didn’t negotiate a buyout right in his contract. The rules aren’t any different in the other direction.
Pretty sure he’s gone. Signing a 3yr deal is a pretty big hint, lols.
Why would the Nuggets have to buy him out? He’s choosing to leave his contract. They owe him nothing.
He’d be buying out his own contract.
Chucktoad1:
“the Nuggets would likely require him to give up most – if not all – of the $10.4MM guaranteed salary he’s owed next season.”
I’m responding to this. It gives the implication that he might actually get some part of his contract, which makes no sense.
it makes as much sense as playera givin up some of their salary to help teams buy them out
he’s gonna give up most if not all
demian:
It’s not a good comparison. When a team offers a player a buyout it’s because they don’t want that player anymore and they will get some relief from having to pay the player that full contract. And the player gets to choose to play somewhere else. If the player initiates wanting to play somewhere else, but the team still wants to keep that player, why should the team have to pay the player anything when they still want to keep the player? It doesn’t make any sense. If they decide to let him out of his contract to go play overseas, there’s no way he should be paid a dime from that contract
Second former kings player to run from the NBA. Valencunas at least gets minutes.
Sad for the Nuggets fans who thought they finally had a playable backup for Jokic.
Can they sign Horford now?
I imagine this is mostly about not wanting to be stuck behind Jokic playing 15 minutes a night.