Following a trade reported with the Pepite, Jonas Valanciunas considering the departure of the NBA to play abroad: Report

Jonas Valanciunas may not back up Nikola Jokic’s backup after all.

Only two days after the relationships emerged on an exchange of players agreed between the sacrament Kings and Denver Nuggets who would have sent Avalanciunas to Denver and to his colleague Veterano Big Man Dario Saric in Sacramento, the news broke the interest of Avalanciunas to play abroad.

Announcement

Donatas Urbonas of Bankenews reported for the first time Thursday that Avalanciunas is thinking of leaving the NBA to play for the Greek club Panathinaikos Athens.

The longtime NBA insider Marc Stein confirmed the Urbonas report according to which a return to Europe is tempting for Avalanciunas, a 33 -year -old center from Lithuania.

Stein reported that Avalanciunas could look for a buyout from his NBA contract to join Panathinaikos Athens.

Although Denver and Sacramento have agreed for the trade-unconnected trade-shops, the exchange cannot be made official until Sunday.

Valanciunas trading was part of an offseason restoration of Nuggets who started with the Michael Porter Jr. franchise striker and an unprotected choice of the first round of 2032 at the Brooklyn networks for the striker Cameron Johnson. Denver also agreed a one -year agreement with the wing of the free agent Bruce Brown, who played a key role for the Nugget during a 2023 race to their first NBA title ever.

Announcement

Valanciunas was expected to give Denver depth in the central position behind Jokic, three times Mvp of the League.

Avalanciunas has been drawn up no. 5 in total in 2011 by the Toronto Raptors, but did not make its debut at the NBA until the 2012-13 season. Before then, he played for the Pro Club Rytas Vilnius in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The 6 feet avalanciunas played 13 seasons in the NBA. He spent 2012-19 with the Raptors, except for the fact that he was exchanged in the middle of the 2018-19 campaign, which ended with the Raptors led by Kawhi Leonard who won the NBA finals. Avalanciunas was sent to Memphis, where he played throughout the 2020-21 season. He was with New Orleans Pellicani in the following three seasons.

Announcement

In 2024-25, he divided the time between the Washington Wizards and the kings. In 49 games and 12 departures, with magicians, Valanciunas scored on average 11.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game. In 32 games and nine departures, with the kings, he scored on average 8.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game.

While Valanciunas started sparingly last season, he was part of the five games of his team in 848 of the 937 games he played during his NBA career. He made an average of a double double in each of the four seasons since 2019-23, a stretch that started with the Grizzlies and ended with the Pellicani.

During his career, Avalanciunas scored on average 13.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 56% from the field and 34.1% from 3.