5:44 pm: The Nuggets are hoping to convince Valanciunas to remain in the NBA rather than seeking a buyout to play in Europe, tweets Stein.
4:40 pm: The trade between Denver and Sacramento is expected to proceed as planned, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), who says discussions between Valanciunas and the Nuggets about his future remain “fluid” in the wake of the lucrative offer he received from Panathinaikos.
3:43 pm: Veteran center Jonas Valanciunas is close to accepting a three-year contract offer worth 12 million Euros from the Greek team Panathinaikos, according to a report from Donatas Urbonas and Karolis Tiskevicius of BasketNews.com.
League sources confirm to NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link) that a possible return to Europe holds “strong appeal” to Valanciunas.
Valanciunas, who has been in the NBA since 2012, remains under contract for two more seasons, with a $10.4MM guaranteed salary for 2025/26 and a $10MM non-guaranteed salary for ’26/27. In other words, he can’t freely sign with Panathinaikos without extricating himself from that deal.
He’s also in the process of changing NBA teams. The Kings and Nuggets agreed to a trade on Tuesday that would sent the Lithuanian big man to Denver in exchange for Dario Saric, but it can’t be finalized until after the July moratorium lifts on Sunday.
It’s unclear if Valanciunas’ rumored move to Athens would scuttle that deal, or if the two teams would still go through with the trade and Valanciunas would subsequently look to complete a buyout with the Nuggets. I’d bet on the latter.
Former EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov was in a similar situation last offseason — as rumors about his possible return to Europe swirled, he was traded from Sacramento to Toronto, where he eventually agreed to a buyout with the Raptors that saw him give up all of his remaining guaranteed salary ($6.7MM) so that he could sign with Olympiacos in Greece.
If the Valanciunas situation plays out in a similar fashion, the Nuggets could end up creating some cap savings as a result of a buyout, but they’d be losing a player they’d identified as a reliable backup for superstar Nikola Jokic and would have to return to the trade market and/or free agency to find someone else to fill that slot.
Valanciunas, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2011 draft, has nearly averaged a double-double across 937 regular season games, with 13.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. In 81 outings for Washington and Sacramento last season, he put up 10.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 18.8 minutes per night.
I understand being home but Denver looks like a legitimate title contender this year with the moves. I would try getting a ring this year then go home.
Ring culture is overrated.
If Val signs with Panathinaikos he can win a ring too – for the Euro League title and play a big role in it. A guy from Europe would probably feel being able to live in Europe and be a key player on a Euro League title winning team more appealing even at a reduced salary.
He has a ring. He played 30 games before being traded on the Raptors team that won the title
Sure the flight home is shorter, but Greece is hardly home for a Lithuanian.
I would bet that trade would still go through with the deal even if Valanciunas wanted out, just as thrilled to be off the last year of Saric’s contract.
I doubt he leaves a team that has a chance. To go to NBA Finals. He can always heave after next year. Maybe after winning a ring. ….
If he’s going back to Europe, it’s a lifestyle choice, not whether the Nuggets have a chance of winning a title.
It’s one year. He came here to win. Thats the dream.
That’s most player’s dreams, but not all.
You ever play sports lol ….. only one reason we all play for. Thats to win the game. Anyone who has a real chance to win. Doesn’t walk away from that. Especially for less money. Take up knitting lol. You don’t have to win there. You will love the culture …..
Played minor league ball, you???
There are Championships to be won in Europe too. Don’t think that the only league that Championships matter is the NBA. Not everything revolves around it.
Bull***t. Just a myth that fans love.
We shall see.
Odd, needs to be some sort of protection for the team in cases like this. Or does big Val just want another yr added?
The Nuggets can either back out of the trade or convince JV to give up nearly all his remaining salary. However, Sacramento would benefit from sending him out as outgoing salary if they’re still in on Kuminga.
I mean the protection is that he can’t actually sign with another team until the Nuggets let him by buying out his contract, and I’d assume they would only do so if he gave up all of the remaining guaranteed money.
And if he left on his own without being bought out you could bet the Nuggets would fight it + he’d never set foot in the NBA again since the Nuggets would still own his rights and I doubt any team would trade for those rights unless they were desperate.
I agree. If he does in fact leave, there should be an option for the Nuggets to be able to rescind the trade.
There could be a case for the Nuggets to move forward regardless, as they would rather not pay Saric 5.5M to be completely out of their rotation. If they lose JV, they can give his 10M to someone else or maintain in season flexibility for more trades.
This is one of the problems with the NBA’s CBA. Non-stars could make more money (over 3 years, it would like be more) in “lesser” leagues. The NBA is supposed to be where these guys play without question.
It’s not just about the money, it’s also about the role. You can be a star in Euro League (and closer to home) or you can be a 10-15mpg guy in the NBA. If money is near equal I could understand the latter winning out for some guys.
Denver is great but after a career earning over $100 million, playing in Greece would have strong appeal.
What happens in Sacramento that makes Europeans hate the NBA?
Money the same and possible chance to be closer to fam.
Wait until the Persian Gulf countries launch a serious basketball project. There was news that they are cooking something up, preparing $5 billion investment for the initial stage.
Saudi Pro League (soccer), under the Public Investment Fund, are already paying higher wages to soccer players than top European teams can, and more and more stars and players in their prime are going there. They are spending billions like it’s nothing.
They can probably spend their way into prominence in basketball more easily. They have already pretty much taken over boxing, which was very straightforward, as that sport is the Wild West.
Another reason Silvers European league is doomed.
Peter, this is an area that interests me a lot. NBA Europe is in the works.
The NBA is actively working with several prospective Saudi and Middle Eastern ownership groups (along with US and European) to help get the NBA running in Western Europe. That should happen in the next decade. The NBA is aiming for 6-10 franchises in the largest European cities, playing an 82 game schedule, in arenas seating 15-20k, and with player salaries like North American ones. That will appeal to a lot of European players now in North America, and, IMO, transform European pro basketball as we know it now.
Check out European Football for a model for what is likely to happen. Outside of the Germany, where regulations prevent foreign control, European Football is effectively controlled by US and Middle Eastern ownership. The majority of the ownership interests in the majority (but by no means all) of the English, French, Spanish and Italian clubs is now American and/or Middle Eastern ( Saudi, Qatar, UAE, etc).
The Middle Eastern leagues, as with soccer, will happen, but Western Europe is the next big basketball ownership opportunity.
To me, NBA Europe and Saudi projects sound more like competitors and the case “who gets there first and captures the market”. Saudi have the benefit of being able to chuck money from the very beginning.
New franchises in Europe, as opposed to the teams that are already there, is something that the Americans would come up with, but idk if it would fly. I don’t see fans in Munich or Madrid flocking to games of newly created teams. It could work in London, I guess, Oslo, too.
But NBA Europe without Madrid, Barca, Fenerbahce, Olympiacos, but with “The Paris Ducks” and “The London Coal Miners” (sorry, couldn’t help myself making those up), I don’t know if that would work.
In Spain, many clubs are also owned by their members (socios) – Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao cannot be bought like Manchester United. Qatar have been looking for a way to gain ownership of Barcelona for a long time now, but they can’t.
But big European clubs, which have been losing money on their basketball teams (Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Greek and Turkish basketball teams are losing money for their clubs, and have to be compensated with football income), are most certainly looking for a way to increase revenues. Barca’s female football team is already generating more revenue than their men’s basketball team, but they are paying much lower salaries to the girls who play football.
If there were a league that would include them, plus several clubs from the Gulf area, European teams would probably sign up. There’s a team from UAE that’s already competing in the ABA League in the Balkans – they are simply paying others in that league to participate.
A league consisting of traditional European teams, plus a club from UAE, one from Qatar, 2 or 3 from Saudi Arabia – one from Riyadh, one from Jeddah and maybe one from that new mega city they are building, Neom – that could work.
Peter- way too much to talk about here, but hopefully we get to it eventually….
There will be more pro basketball around the world, but unlike golf, the big business opportunities will be in cities with NBA-scale economics — stadiums with 18K seating, a market affluent enough to pay for 82 games, and players receiving 1/2 the revenues. There are 5 W European cities already lined up. The FIBA teams from those cities are largely on-board because they stand to make hundreds of millions the moment the ownership groups are formed and NBA franchises are granted. Give it 5 years, max.
Everything else is mouse nuts.
Everything else is mouse nuts.
There are 5 European cities lined up already.
Hm. What are the cities?
london, paris, real madrid, barcelona, bayern munchen, one greek team in Athens, probably maccabi, byaern munchen, milan
and the league won’t happen in the next decade, the plan is for next couple of years. if they wait close to a decade ther’s no point
See my reply below.
in Greece there’s no relationship between football and basketball team, so they can’t be compesated
neither are Real and the other teams compsated that way, uefa and fiba are totally unrelated
no relationship in terms of their owners
I should have read before posting, so many errors
Not sure about Olympiacos, perhaps you are right.
But they are a part of the same organization in Spain, 100%. It was one of the points of Laporta’s presidency that they could not subsidize the basketball team so much, and had to spend on the football team. They cut basketball spending, and their squad was weakened the last 2-3 years.
And Bayern is 100% part of FC Bayern Munchen, I saw their president at the games.
in spain real and barcelona belong to the same athletic club, owned by the members. but the rest of the football teams dont ie valencia bc and valencia bc have different owners. baskonia also doesnt have a football club at all.
olympiacos fc and bc belonged to the same guy once, but its been 10 years now they arent. panahtinaikos clubs never belonged to the same guy
you are right about bayern, its the same club, cska is the same as well, partizan, red star. italian clubs are also unrelated to football clubs
The money in the Middle East is huge after all the oil they sit on…
When that’s up and running it will completely shift the dynamics for the top stars in the NBA…
They should work on stabilizing the region first. Spend the money there. We don’t believe in Monarchs …… handle football first …
NBA talent isn’t going anywhere anytime soon …..
there wont be any gulf league, basketball it not that popular in the region
and as for the saudi league sof ar they have either taken old players or second-tier ones. no top football player is going to play there. its mostly south americans, africans and of african descent
excluding cristiano ronaldo and few other players, salaries are less than in Europe.
they might be paying players more than what they would earn in europe, but its still less than top tier salaries in europe
They are paying big salaries. They are also signing young academy players under 21, because they have a certain quota, and those young guys are gladly signing because they’re getting more there than if they were promoted to the first team within their clubs.
The salaries that are reported are all tax-free, with big bonuses and all expenses covered. Duran was making 400k$ per week tax-free, more than just about every footballer in Europe is getting.
Not all clubs are like that, though. 4 are owned by PIF, another club owned by Aramco, and one more big player that’s Neom. Other clubs are “normal”, but they are getting subsidies from PIF, and also have spending power.
apart from the top 30 players then rest have normal salaries, more than what they would earn in europe but not near what top players earn in Europe
they only sign specific type of players, cause every player interested in his career doesn’t want to play there (with some exceptions). there’s no interest at all for the league in europe. the chinese league tried something similar 10 years ago and
dhuran is leaving saudi arabai for turkey
The Jokic brothers might have to pay him a visit.
Here comes another take from aristotle which came from his behind. aristotle, not just an (Insert your favorite NBA team) expert but also an international basketball expert. He knows it all and everybody else is wrong.
Back to Valanciunas. He did technically win a ring already when he was with Toronto for the 1st half of the season in 2018-19 and if he is fine with that, then let him go back across the Atlantic.
Given the money is the same you go somewhere where politics isn’t making you a target…
Except the money isn’t the same. 4 million euros a year doesn’t equal 10 million USD.
It does equal approximately $5M dollars though. For a guy who has made $100M in the NBA, he has enough money to make the sacrifice if his preference is to play in Europe.
Worth noting too that salary figures reported for deals in Europe are generally post-tax (don’t know for sure that’s the case here, but it’s the standard).
it is post tax, we never include tax here
Atm… give it 6 months and it’ll be very very different…
Give it another year… even worse for the dollar…
JV is under contract, so if DEN wants him to stay, then he can’t sign in Europe unless DEN agrees to be bought out. NBA/FIBA agreements require each party to honor the others’ contracts. Wanting happiness for the player is a factor, but it’s not like Europeon teams havent made NBA teams wait for international players to finish their contracts over there, or, when there is a buyout in those contracts, enforced it to the letter of the agreement.
DEN wins the Saric trade either way, though, since they wanted him off the books, and presumably the JV buyout would eliminate the entire salary at least.
valanciunas came already in athens, its a done deal
Silver said they want at least 8, ideally 12, but they see the way to the first 5:
London, Paris (NBA wants to own 50% of these 2 initially)
Madrid, Barcelona, and Milan for 5.
Oslo doesn’t have NBA economics, nor do Athens or Istanbul.