Jonas Valančiūnas’ NBA run appears to be over, and the big man is heading home.
On Wednesday, Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews reported that the 34-year-old signed a two-year deal with EuroLeague club Zalgiris Kaunas of Lithuania. Valančiūnas will return to his home country after 14 seasons in the NBA.
His path back to Europe became possible only after Denver waived him this summer. Last offseason, the Nuggets acquired Valančiūnas in a trade, but the move drew attention because he had interest in returning to the EuroLeague.
At the time, that wasn’t his decision to make because he still had at least one more season left on his NBA contract. Once Denver cut him loose, the door opened.
Valančiūnas entered the league in 2011 when Toronto took him with the No. 5 overall pick, and he made his debut the next season. He spent his first stretch with the Raptors through 2018 before being traded to Memphis. From there, he went on to play for New Orleans, Washington, Sacramento, and Denver.
With the Zalgiris deal now official, it looks like his final NBA appearance came in a Nuggets jersey.
After Denver waived him, Valančiūnas received $2 million in the process. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that several teams showed interest, and SNY’s Ian Begley said the Knicks had him on their radar as a third-string center option.
It’s unclear whether New York ever made a formal push for him or offered its final roster spot. But even if that possibility was real, the pull of the EuroLeague - and the chance for a bigger role than he likely would have had in the NBA - may have been too strong to turn down.
Valančiūnas had said he was willing to do whatever he could to help Denver chase another championship, even if it meant staying in the league longer than he originally wanted. That title push never came together, though he did get the chance to play alongside Nikola Jokić.
Now, with his return to the EuroLeague set, Valančiūnas seems to have reached the end of his NBA journey on his own terms, back where it all began.
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