SHOCKING: Jonas Valanciunas LEAVING Denver Nuggets to play in Greece?

SHOCKING: Jonas Valanciunas LEAVING Denver Nuggets to play in Greece?

All right, Nuggets fans. Welcome into Pickax and Roll, brought to you by our good friends here at Mile High Sports. I am your host, Ryan Blackburn at NBA Blackburn on Twitter, part of the Mile High Sports podcast network. and I am here. I am ready to start breaking down what is a very weird situation that’s cropped up over the course of these last couple days. Uh Jonas Valenunus, who I’ve talked about on this show, I’ve talked about on other shows, I’ve talked about on other platforms, uh was very excited to have him in as the backup center for Nicole Yokic here with the Denver Nuggets. But unfortunately, that does not look like it is going to be the case. We’re going to break it down. Uh, obviously Fourth of July yesterday, I didn’t really feel like doing a show. Uh, and then all of this kind of came out and it was still developing as a situation. So, yes, everybody wants to know what’s going on. I kind of had an inkling that none of this was going to get solved until at least July 6th when that trade is officially down for uh the Dariosion Valuna swap between Sacramento and Denver. Uh so I I didn’t necessarily feel too much pressure to do this too soon, but we’re going to talk about it now. We’re going to talk about some of the free agents that are still on the market. We’re going to talk about different options that Denver has. I’ve got some names here that I want to throw out at people, of course. And if you have a name that you want to throw back at me, then let me know and we can we can discuss it. But basically what we’re going to do here, we’re going to go through what happened, which we’re still not sure, why it happened, and then what Denver does from here. So, let’s first focus on what happened. going through the timeline of this thing. Uh Denver makes the trade for Cam Johnson on June 30th. They execute that. That becomes public. Uh you get Michael Porter for and and a first round pick for Cam Johnson and it frees up Denver’s cap space. They sign Bruce Brown to a minimum deal that does not affect their ability to go get Jonas Valenunis. And effectively what happened over the course of the next day is Denver, they were canvasing the league looking for different options and what we thought was a great option in Jonas Valenunis became available because Sacramento was looking to save some money. They were trying to do the thing where like they were rumored to go sell off Malik Monk and some of their other like pricey pieces on their roster because they were trying to free up cash in order to uh to sign Dennis Shruder. Not a great idea in my opinion, but Denver was like, “Sure, hey, we we got a great option here for you.” Because of the additional flexibility that trading Michael Porter, taking back a player that makes about 17.5 fewer million dollars in Cam Johnson, Denver had the flexibility to go add some money to their roster, whereas Sacramento was trying to subtract. So, Denver tries to execute this trade. And it was very curious as to why um as to why there were no assets being thrown into that deal between Denver and Sacramento. Was very surprised by that. Uh now I think we may have some context although we still need a whole bunch of clearance on this situation. But that trade goes down July 1st or it’s supposed to. like it’s it’s agreed to on July 1st, becomes public on July 1st, and then you sit on it for a little bit. And July 2nd, the next day, I actually got a couple of messages from folks from folks overseas. Uh I didn’t go public with this because I didn’t know how legitimate it was. And all of this has kind of seemingly came out of nowhere. But I got a couple of messages that was asking, “Hey, do you understand? Do you know anything about the Jonas Valentunis to Greece situation?” And I said, “No, this is all very new to like I I didn’t even respond to a couple of them, but I I had an inkling that there was something that was happening here, but like everybody else when I first saw the news, it’s like Jonas Valunis is going to turn down $10 million to go play for a contract that is worth $4 million. That doesn’t seem that doesn’t seem reasonable. Uh at least four million per year.” And so I didn’t think much of it, but it was something that was going on in the background. And then on July 3rd, two days ago, something happened. I don’t know what it was, but something happened between Yonas Valenunis and somebody involving the situation in Abu Dhabi. I don’t know what it was. Still trying to figure out what it was. But Yonas Valenunis effectively said, “Hey, I want to go. I want to leave. And initially, he was excited to go to Denver, or at least that’s what was put out publicly, but then decided, I would like to leave. A little bit odd, a little bit of a weird situation there. Like, not everything is adding up here, but either way, he decides and is very like fullthroated, saying, I am I am leaving. I am gone. And the Nuggets are like they’re as surprised by this as anybody else. We think I don’t think that there was anything that was indicating that this was actually a a thing that they had to worry about there. There’s nothing that was said behind the scenes that was like, “Oh, yeah, we knew.” Nothing like there was nothing like that. Now, to be fair, they are also kind of being koi because the trade has not gone through. There are still things that they’re trying to work through on their end and they don’t have to comment on this stuff until July 6th when the trade actually does go down. So, we’ll learn more tomorrow about some of the the details and the particulars, but either way, this went from July 1st, Jonas Valenunis gets traded to Denver. July 2nd, there are some inklings that he could be trying to leave. July 3rd, something happens and now he’s seriously trying to leave. And then yesterday, July 4th, like I was on holiday obviously, but he touched down in Greece and is signing this contract or at least in the process of signing this contract. So he was there like that’s by by all accounts internationally. He was not in the states, he was in Greece. He was where he’s going to play Euro League for I I I can’t pronounce Pathnikos. Uh something like that. It’s a a horrible Greek pronunciation. Sorry, my international friends. Uh but for a a stacked Euro League team that is going to be very exciting. He’s going to play a focal point role and nobody really knows why. Like there are guesses as to why. Like playing the backup position for Nicole Yokic is not an easy position. It’s not a fun position that’s for sure. And if you are if you’re thinking just like enjoying it from a life perspective, somebody who’s from Lithuania who doesn’t necessarily have ties to a whole bunch of teams in like he’s been traded around the NBA. He signed with Washington last year. They traded him to Sacramento to back up Yonh to back up Damonte Sabonis. Now he’s being traded to back up Nicole Joic. he was a star or or at least a starter to the point where like he was a guy that I think had a different view of himself than a lot of other people did. And so he’s been passed around the NBA for a little bit. Um it is it is tough. Uh but this is also one of the one of the messages here I think is very important. Uh Alexander Pavvisovich says uh because after the taxes and expenses his actual salary is closer to 5.5 million and four million in pathos uh is after expenses and taxes. That is because the Greek teams especially like the Euro League teams they pay for all of those expenses and taxes before like anything is like given to you. So like they you don’t have to pay that. In the United States you actually do. So 10 million turns into 5.5 6 million whatever the actual tax bracket is whereas when like 4 million is 4 million if you’re going over there. So the actual gap is not that crazy uh because of tax rules in the United States versus in like for uh professional players and it like this is not like a just a Greece thing. This is just a this is a thing where they are trying to make it as viable for their athletes as possible. they they want those guys to be there and so they are taken care of in a big way. So this is a tough situation and Denver like I didn’t fully take as seriously as I certainly should have when I when I first heard it because I I was not considering the possibility that Yonas Valenunis was interested in leaving. But apparently he’s been like thinking about it for a little bit. So, this is not something that is new information, which of course begs the question, and there’s there’s a lot of questions I think that can be begged from this. Um, the first one is, did the Nuggets know that this was a possibility? Did they know that he was a flight risk and decide to do this trade anyway? Now, it’s not the worst thing in the world for Denver to get off of Daario Sarich’s contract knowing that Yonas Valenunis is going to give back every single dollar. They’re not going to have to pay a dime for him. And then they get 5.4 million out of the tax, which then begs the question to me, what is Sacramento doing in that situation? How could they not have taken advantage of that if like they’re worried about saving money and like they’re they’re thinking, “Oh man, we’re going to have to pay 10.3 million to Yonas Valenunis, so we have to trade him and move him to for a guy that has getting 5.4 million in Darius Arch.” But did Sacramento know that this was a possibility? And so, did they like miss out on a full 10.3 million that they could have saved? That seems wild. That seems odd. Did Sacramento not know if this was a possibility and then they decide, hey, we’re gonna we’re gonna push that problem on to Denver. We’re not going to tell them. That seems weird. That seems that seems very odd. Um, but it’s just very very interesting. Um, did the Nuggets think that they could convince Yonas Valenunis to stay? Did they know that this was a possibility and think we’re going to try to do it anyway? Uh, were the Nuggets and Kings both like surprised by this? Was everybody surprised by it? Because it it seems like there were other people in the NBA that thought that this was a possibility. So, it is very odd that this is going on. Um, I don’t know how to answer any of this. The Nuggets are being very koi about it right now, and we’ll see what ultimately becomes of it. Uh, but I think it’s fair to have some questions when you you have you you trade for a guy that you think is going to be a big-time backup for Joic. Maybe you could even play those guys together on occasion and say, “All right, hey, we’re going to see what happens.” But, uh, I can understand it from Valenunis’ perspective that if he still wants to play a large comment, um, what if he still wants to play a large role? Excuse me. I read I read a comment on a on YouTube. if he still wants to play a large role for a team, it’s becoming pretty clear for him that the NBA is not his league anymore and that going to Greece is not the worst thing in the world where he gets to play in Euro League. Uh, obviously the international guys, particularly guys kind of in Eastern Europe, very willing, very willing to go back to the NB or to international waters and and play for Euro League or play for for other organizations and leagues abroad and they’re more than willing to do that because they’re just they want to be happy and and I can’t blame anybody for that. That’s not that is not a criticism in any way, shape or form. Does it suck for Denver? Sure. Now, they have some questions that they have to answer. They’ve got they’ve got to pivot. I think they thought that they were going to get 48 minutes of great center play for this upcoming NBA season. Now, they’re not going to get that in all likelihood. And the question becomes, can they save the situation or is this doomed to begin with because of a situation that either a they did not foresee or b they thought that they could get around? And those are both tough questions. Those are both very tough situations to kind of handle. So, I’m curious to see where it goes from here. If you guys have other thoughts, then let me know. Uh, but it does seem like Denver at this point now has other things that they have to answer. They have other positions that they have to fill. My most likely I think the most likely situation here for Denver is that they don’t convince Yonas to stay. He’s clearly in Greece right now. Uh and they or they they sign off on his letter of uh release for FIA. And then FIBA says, “Okay, now you can sign with Greece officially.” And then when that happens, Denver will have 13 players on their roster. They will have some financial flexibility. We’ll talk about that in the next segment. But yeah, this sucks. This is this is a situation that nobody really foresaw from a a fan and media perspective. That’s for sure. I think everybody was very much uh excited for Jonas Valenunis to be a Denver Nugget for a year and see what happens after that. But doesn’t seem like he is going to be here and now the Nuggets have to pivot. So when we come back we’re going to talk about their other solutions. Uh this will be a slightly shorter podcast than what I’ve been doing normally, but if you’ve got other players that you would like me to uh that you would like me to talk about, actually Ken Goldman here says a contract can’t be signed with Greece until he is released from the Nuggets contract. Ryan, yes, I know that’s what I was trying to get at from the the letter of release. Uh Denver will agree to a buyout. That would be my the most likely situation. They’re they’re not going to fight this. like that’s I I would be shocked if they actually did. Uh there are three options that Denver can get into. They could either buy him out, they could wave him and accept the penalty of 10.3 million which Valenunis would then get or they could like not do this and and force Bionis Valentunis to play in Denver. But he’s like that’s a bad situation for like for anybody that has been in a situation like like with a a team building situation. You do not want team members to be held against their will in Denver. That’s a bad idea. Joey Richards with the super chat. Thank you, man. Uh keep up the good work to Ryan. Ah, appreciate it. Joey’s been uh been so supportive. Shout out to shout out to uh Bri and Zach and Joey for for the good work that they’ve done on the Broncos podcast. It’s uh always great to talk to you guys and hope to see you at a game uh next year. It’d be great. All right, let’s take another break. When we come back, we are going to go over the free agency market, the trade market, the buyout market, and try to get get a little creative with how Denver can solve this problem. We’ll be right back here on Pickax and Roll. All right, we are back. Pickax, thank you so much for tuning into the show. Hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. We really appreciate it. We got a popping chat day after Fourth of July here on this Saturday. So, thank you guys for hopping in. Really appreciate you stopping by. Um have some questions from folks about the buyout situation. Um this comment, how is it that Yonas wouldn’t have to forfeit his contract? The Nuggets would really have to buy him out, carry dead money. No, that is the waving situation. So when you wave a player, basically what that means is that that player’s contract becomes guaranteed, at least for the the guaranteed portions of that contract, they get the entire thing. Um, the buyout situation is where Denver effectively agrees to a number where Yonas can then get back some, all, or none of the money and then be released from his contract. So, what Denver is likely to do and what it sounds like the the wording that we’re getting from everybody internationally right now is that Yonas would be willing to give up all of his money because of the contract that he is getting from Greece. Um he or at least basically Denver would be u compensated in some way from uh the Greek team that he is signing with. So he would give back all 10.3 million that he is owed in 202526. He has a non-G guaranteed deal in 2026 27. So Denver doesn’t they’re not on the hook for any of that. Uh but basically the buyout is the most likely situation where he gives back all of the money if he is willing to actually leave. So we will see this. Where’s Embid? says Jonas just didn’t want to come play for Ryan Blackburn. You already know, man. I’m really hard on these players. I’d be uh BSing and moaning about the non Jokic minutes again. And it’s just it’s a really hard situation for these guys to get be be paid multi-million dollars in order to play basketball. It’s must must be so frustrating. So, I have so much sympathy. Uh JK Waller says Lithuanians against Blackburn. Uh, now we’re we’re going to add Lithuanians to Argentinians. That’s uh that’s a very tough situation. Guil says, “You’re not asking any of the right questions.” I I feel like my my interview questions have been pretty good lately. Uh maybe not to Michael Malone. I feel like I was I was a little bit softer on Coach Malone than I probably should have been, but uh yeah, these these guys, they’re clearly just scared of the uh of of the washed white guy here sitting on the screen. So, look, it is what it is. Uh, okay. Let’s talk about different solutions for Denver. Uh, I’ve got a a variety of different things written down. Um, the most important thing that Nuggets fans need to know is that Denver’s not screwed. Like, they they have a variety of other things that they can try to do. Uh but let’s say that they do agree like the trade goes down tomorrow and Denver agrees to a buyout. That is the most likely situation. That would leave from my count having 13 players on their roster and they would have space under the first tax apron which is the most important line. Uh they have some uh big space under the luxury tax as well. So, if they want to duck the tax entirely, then they like honestly this is a good reason to do that if they can come up with a cheap solution. Um, there’s there’s other factors there, but like uh they have space under the luxury tax of about $10 million from what I understand and under the first tax apron under 13.2 million. So what that means is that in order to use the big MLE, not the mini one which is the tax MLE, the big MLE, which is 14.1 million, like Denver has to stay under the first tax apron. So here’s what that means to me. Denver should probably use the vast majority of that. They they have the flexibility. They might as well do it. But there are different ways that they could try to get that done. The most important way is just signing a free agent. You could sign a a free agent and try to get whoever you want on the actual free agency market. The problem that you run into for Denver is that yeah, there are u there are not a lot of free agents out there, especially at the the backup center position, but there is one that everybody is intimately familiar with, Al Horford, who is older now, but is still one of those guys that I think everybody trusts. He’s one of those players that would be fantastic to have in the locker room. has enough versatility that he could play next to Nicole Joic but also back up the minutes behind him and he’s just so lowmaintenance in general that I think it would be a great situation if that’s what happened. I’m not sure if they’re going to be able to get him though because everybody and their mother including Bill Simmons on his most recent podcast said that he thinks that Al Horford is going to be a member of the Golden State Warriors. Now, that is a little like like there there’s there’s factors there that I think may or may not prevent him from doing that. Uh but Al Horford on the Warriors does feel like a pretty good fit. Like that that’s a that’s a great fit next to Draymond Green, next to uh Jimmy Butler. He would be a good pick and pop option for them. He’d be a great uh just center candidate to be in their rotation. They’ve had weaknesses at their center spot for a long time. Al Horford would be very good for the Golden State Warriors. And if he’s still looking for a significant role, he will get that in Golden State or at least the opportunity to have that in Golden State. He will not have that opportunity in Denver because think about it, the the max amount of minutes that he’s likely to average in Denver is like what 18 20 like somewhere in that range. I think if you are Al Horford, you know that Jokic is going to average about 32 33 minutes per game at at minimum. And then like if they’re playing together, how much are they actually overlapping? Probably four or five minutes per game. So you get Al Horford getting about 15 backup center minutes, four to five power forward minutes, and you’re probably going at about 20 minutes per game is the the maximum that you could really see him playing. Whereas if you’re in Golden State, you might play 25, you might play 30 if that’s something that he still wants to do. So it’s tough that that is a different situation. And also like Golden State’s a great place to be. There’s a different level of pressure. But you get to play with Steph Curry, you get to play with Jimmy Butler, you get to play with Draymond Green. In Denver, you do get to play with Nicole Joic, Jamal Murray, but like you’re also not playing with Nicole Joic a lot of that time because you are his backup. So, I think he would probably enjoy the fit with Steph Curry a little bit more, which is why this is probably not going to happen. So, Nuggets fans, I like Al Horford would be tier one the best option for Denver very clearly. I want to make that like I want to lay that out pretty strictly here. He would be great. He would help you play a Jokic style of basketball with the second unit. He would be a lot of fun to be around. He’s a a veteran that you can trust in the playoffs. He would be a playoff rotation guy very clearly on the free agency market. There are not that many other good options. The names that I wrote down, Chris Buchet, who’s more of a power forward than a center. He’s like he’s a stick figure. That’s probably not going to be a great thing. Alex Len, DeAndre Jordan, Marvin Baggley. There’s another name that I want to throw out there. Tristan Vuksevich, who is a younger player, played for Washington each of the last couple years, basically averaged about nine points per game, pick and pop center, good touch, good skill set, may not be ready to like actually play at a high level, but somebody that I would keep my eye on if I were Denver. Uh Washington has a whole bunch of players on their roster and him as accurately says here, Tristan is a restricted free agent. Yes, for a team that has 16 players on their roster right now. So, they may be willing to let him go and and we’ll we’ll see what happens with that. But I I always look for situations like that where you’ve got roster issues, you’ve got fit issues. I’m not sure whether he would be available, but if he is, not not the worst option in the world. Um, so that’s the free agency market. It is not good. I I’m not going to I’m not going to belabor the point. It is not a good market. The next thing you can do is the trade market. And the reason why the trade market is a possibility for Denver is not because they have matching salary. They don’t. Unless teams are super interested in Zeke Nagi like they haven’t been before. Um the trade market exists because Denver can use that that uh non-t taxpayer MLE as a trade chip that is available to them. uh it is something that changed in this most recent CBA and so it gives Denver at least a little bit of flexibility to use that free agency bartering chip on a trade. Now you have to keep it within 14.1 million. You can’t add that to other salaries. You can’t add that to other exceptions. That is not something you can do. But what you can do is trade for somebody within 14 million, which actually because of Denver’s cap situation, you should probably trade for somebody within like 12 million. Uh the first apron space that Denver has is up to 13.2 from my calculations here, but that’s with 13 players on the roster. So you’re probably looking at like you probably you probably don’t want to trade for somebody that’s making 13 14 like you may not even legally be able to. So the names that I came up with just four very quickly. Goabatazi of the Orlando Magic would be tier one best option. uh he may not be available, but I look at the Orlando Magic as a team that is very close very close to uh um like they’re they’re very close to the luxury tax. They’ve never paid it before. They might decide to pay it because they have an option to get there, but I I don’t think that that is really a viable option for them to pay the luxury tax. So, if they want some flexibility, then maybe that’s something that they could have happen. Goab Batazi seems like you would be out of Denver’s reach. But then you realize that Orlando last year in the playoffs against Boston, they played what a fivegame series, a six-game series. He played in just three games and played a total of 11 minutes. Go Patazi did. And that was not an injury thing. They just decided to play other options. So if that’s the case, if they don’t necessarily value him that much, Denver might be able to get him. that that would be tier one option. Denver would have to throw out a second round pick in 2032. They’d have to probably throw out a first round swap in order to get him, but something that I would look at. Another couple of options, Nick Richards, Andre Drummond from the Suns and Sixers, respectively. That is to get them savings. It would be a average to below average backup for Denver. Not necessarily great, but it would be something. Um, there’s a couple of uh, actually here’s a super chat from Boyon. Thank you for the super chat. Any chances to get Kesler or Gaffford? Walker Kesler from the Utah Jazz. Daniel Gaffford from the Dallas Mavericks. Two interesting situations. The first one with Kesler, his value is so high right now in terms of what the Jazz have been asking for on a consistent basis. Denver does not have the draft capital to get him. They just don’t. Now, maybe if they decided to swap out Julian Strather or Payton Watson or somebody like that, maybe you could talk yourself into it, but that gets you into a pretty uncomfortable spot. And I’m not sure you really want to trade one of those other two young guys for a backup center spot, especially one like Kesler where he’s not going to play with Joic that much, like if at all. Uh that would be trading for somebody to play 14 minutes per game. I think his agent Walker Kesler would be very unhappy about that situation. So, you’re probably not going to get that. Daniel Gaffford more willing to play kind of a backup role would kind of be a little bit more flexible. The problem is his contract is now too much. He got a threeyear 60 or threeear $54 million contract extension. I don’t think that he’s eligible for Denver to be able to get him. I don’t think he fits under their uh mid-level exception kind of opportunity and that sucks because he would be a great fit. He would be a great option for Denver, but I do not think it is viable. But uh thank you for the super chat though. Both good ideas. U unfortunately I think they’re out of Denver’s range for different reasons. So Kesler probably not there. Um Gaffford probably not available. Astra tour says Nick Richards plus Royce O’Neal for Zeke Naji. Uh unfortunately that won’t work financially because Nick Richards is at 5 million. Royce O’Neal worth about 10 million. So that gets up to 15 million and then Zei gets up to eight, but you can’t combine Zeke Naji’s contract with uh uh with the mid-level exception. Now, what you could technically do is do those two trades separately and try to get like Zeke Naji for Nick Richards, although that’s not legal either because the Suns can’t take back more money than they take out. So, too complicated. I don’t think that it can work from a financial perspective. So, it’s unfortunate that Denver’s now in this situation where if they try to trade with a team like the Suns, the Suns, it’s impossible to trade for. Now, what they could do is take back Royce O’Neal and just like trade for him for like a second round pick or something. That would be great. That that would be ideal if you were Denver. So, maybe there is something to be said there. But, I do think that Denver like my my thinking here is that they do have options. This they’re not they’re not screwed. There’s been this uh there’s been this thing in like for the Nuggets where like especially Nuggets fans basically saying, “Yeah, they’re screwed.” No, that is that is not the case. There are options that they can throw out there. So whether it’s Gogetazi, Nick Richards, Andre Drummond, Kelly Olen is another name that I threw out there. I’m not sure about his actual salary. Let me see if I can pull that up here. 13.4. What is Denver at right now? They’re at 13.2. Okay, maybe that doesn’t work. I I thought that Kelly Olen would be able to fit. Maybe if Denver were to get somebody to take on Hunter Tyson’s contract, maybe that’s a viability. But actually, hunter Tyson for Kelly Olen, Hunter Tyson gets waved. That that would work. I think I think that would work if if Washington was willing to do it. But that that’s one that I think Nuggets should try to explore. Uh whether it actually happens or not remains to be seen. Uh, another super chat here from Maku. Uh, could we attach Julian and or Zeke with that MLE? I don’t think so. It’s It’s not cap legal in order to do that because when you combine and now to be fair, they can like trade that player for another player and absorb them into the MLE. That is a possibility. But the what you’re what you’re trying to do, I assume, is add Julian’s salary to the MLE amounts and get back some because like Julian makes what? Three million. I I actually don’t let me let me pull it up here. He makes 2.6 million. So what you cannot do is add 2.6 million to the 14.1 million mid-level exception in order to get up to 16.7 million. like you can’t accept a player back for $16 million in that situation. Uh you have to accept somebody back for $14 million, but you can do a Julian for player X trade and then absorb them back into the 14 million trade-toplayer exception. So there is some flexibility there, but not to the degree that I think you’re thinking of. But thank you for the super chat. Uh Buon says Nicola Mulletinov would be excellent for Denver. I’m not sure how much Militinov has in the tank still. Like he would be interesting. Uh for those that don’t know, Serbian center who playing on the Serbian national team with Nicole Joic, those guys were playing together a little bit, but more often than not, it was Mulletinov playing the Jokic backup role for the Serbian team. Uh I won’t pretend to know that much about where Muatinov is in his career. I actually don’t know how old he is. He it wouldn’t surprise me if he was actually I’m not even going to guess. U let’s let’s try to look it up now and see uh see what happens. Um he’s only 30, born December 30th, 1994. Only 30, but he never did come over to the NBA. So, I mean, I I wouldn’t be against it. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Um, yeah, we will we will see. Um, okay. Josh Stikline says, uh, the Nuggets can send out Zeke and bring back up to 15.6 million in salary per the salary matching rules for teams under the first apron. 15.6. I wonder where that number comes from. Is that like 14.1 plus 10%. Uh, may maybe that is what you’re getting at. 14.1 plus 10% on salary match. That that wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case. Uh but it is like all of this is very confusing. I I’m let me let me just reiterate this now. I’m doing my best in trying to c like cover as many of the different situations as possible for Denver. I do not know. Uh there’s there’s so many different things that I’m still learning about this new CBA and because of how often it changes and how often these rules kind of get amended and like a lot of these different things like these different situations, I was not even thinking about having to covering this stuff uh for for Denver specifically. So I’m doing my best trying to trying to come up with it. But uh these are some of the other options for Denver. One thing that I’ve heard a lot of people talking about is the buyout market, specifically with Chicago Bulls center Nicolola Vousvich. Uh Vousvich is somebody who he would obviously be great as a backup. He’s been a starter in the NBA for a long time. He’s been borderline an allstar for different situations, different circumstances. um that is at least possible if he would be willing to trade for a buyout or not trade but like accept a buyout with Chicago and then Chicago was was allowed to do that as well. I’m not sure how viable that is. It does seem like they would rather hold on to Vousvich and then try to trade him for an asset. The other thing is that Chicago doesn’t really have a lot of centers right now. They’ve got Jaylen Smith. They’ve got Nicole Vousvich. And let’s let’s go look over at Spotrak and see who’s on their roster right now. Is there any other center on their roster? Zack Collins. Okay. Um they’ve got Lachlan Olrich as their as a two-way center for them as well. Uh yeah, I would uh if I were the Bulls after all of the dumb trades that I’ve made over the course of these past two years, I would be holding on to Vousvich. I would be trying to wait for the right team to trade for him. The problem is is that in the modern NBA with the salary cap situation the way that it is, 20 million, which is what he makes, uh 21.4 four is a tough salary to absorb into your contracts for a team for a player that is probably going to be a backup. Uh for Denver specifically, they can’t do that. They do not have the financial flexibility in order to do that, which is why you have to wait for the buyout market. So, we will see what happens and whether Denver can actually make that happen. But I I do think that that’s at least a possibility that they should be running through. The other thing that they could do and I haven’t heard a lot of and like so other other buyout option by the way Robert Williams for Portland. I’m not sure whether they’re going to do that but Portland’s got Hansen Yang. They’ve got Donovan Klingan. They still have Duop Rereath on their team and then they’ve they bought out DeAndre Aton earlier. Would they do the same thing for Robert Williams? Maybe. uh they would probably rather trade for him, but if they wanted to bring back Delano Banton, for example, and like bring him back to their roster, maybe you free up some center spots, uh Robert Williams, I think, would be an interesting name for the Nuggets for obvious reasons, like be a good backup center, would be somebody that they don’t have to play every night, that they shouldn’t play every night, but somebody who can make an impact both with and without Nicole Joic on the floor. Um, the other option, the one option that people have not really explored, what if Denver just gets stacked at another position in free agency, like what if they just decide not to worry about the backup center position too much? They play Zeke Naji there. They play Aaron Gordon there a little bit. They play Don Holmes there. Uh maybe they do bring back somebody like DeAndre Jordan or Alex Len or somebody that’s a a pretty weak backup center option for going forward. But what Denver actually does is they get better at some of these other positions that would help their entire roster like some other free agents that are still available. Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Malcolm Brogden, Trey Lyles, Amir Coffee. Like, couldn’t you see Trey Lyles being a good option for Denver as kind of a a backup four where then you don’t have to play Zeke Naji and you just play Trey Lyles and Don Holmes together at the backup four five or Trey Lyles and DeAndre Jordan or Alex Len or somebody like that. Like I can see that. I can absolutely see Denver trying to do that for sure. And then rather than worrying so much about getting the right backup center, you kind of go into the season knowing, yeah, it’s going to be a problem, it will be an issue. Like some of these guys are not actually centers, especially like Don Holmes, Zeke, like those guys. You do not want them playing backup center a ton. But if you don’t have like let’s say you get Alex Len, let’s say you get Alex Len and Trey Lyles. Alex Lenwin matching up with the actual like true centers for the backup position like he plays. But then when you go against teams that don’t have a true backup center or their backup center is not very good. Then you play Trey Lyles, you play Don Holmes at backup five, uh you play a little bit smaller, you play a little bit faster, and you just get a better player in general than what you would likely get otherwise. Like I think that that’s at least a reasonable option. Uh people are like, “Okay, Carter Bryant’s laughing in here like Alex Len, what are you doing?” Like, and look, I get it. That was just a name that I’m throwing out there. Like, throw out any of these other candidates that you you’d like to have there instead from a free agency position. Some of the other names, Precious Aua, Thomas Bryant, Daniel Ty, Marvin Bagley, pick one. I I don’t care. It’s just like you’re getting a minimum backup center. That’s what I’m talking about. Um, or you could get Tristan Fukvich and and if you decide to go get him, that would be fine. But then you actually spend more of that money on another position. And so Denver could get a true point guard. They don’t really have one outside of Jaylen Picket right now uh for their second unit. But wouldn’t it be interesting to at least add to the talent of your rotation even if it doesn’t fit perfectly? And then maybe there’s something that you could do mid-season and trading for some options. I think that there’s at least something there. Also, there’s al there’s the very likelihood that the buyout market, whether it’s Vousvich or whether it’s somebody else on the buyout market, becomes available for the backup center position and you actually add to that spot during the middle of the season. It may not be there now, but you don’t have to you you just don’t have to do anything crazy right now. You have to make sure to be wary of Joic’s minutes, but you could come up with some peacemeal situations. Absolutely. Um, Gujo says, “Would Jock Landel actually play?” Uh, good question. Like that would that I’d be all right with Jock Land for a minimum. That that’s that’s perfectly reasonable. If Denver could just add somebody like that, like I don’t think that he’s going to be any good. I think that you’re you’re probably because like the the problem is is that when you go up against teams like Houston, for example, and they roll out a three-headed juggernaut that features Alpurn and Shangun, Steven Adams, and Clink Capella, you’re probably wondering, oh my god, like you need somebody big enough that can actually handle that situation reasonably well. So that’s why DeAndre Jordan actually does make sense in that regard. It’s why some other options would make some sense. you just want somebody that can handle the size perspective of this thing. Uh, but there’s not a lot of options here that could do that. Like Thomas Bryant would could potentially do that. Would he be willing to come back to Denver even like given the situation that he went through? I don’t know. Either way, I just want to make sure that everybody understands. I know that this Jonas Valenunis situation has surprised everybody. It’s not the end of the world. Keep in mind that this was the backup center position. This is the backup to Nicole Joic. Nicole Joic is likely going to play a whole heck of a lot. Even if there is a good backup center, he’s still probably going to play a whole heck of a lot. Now, you would like him to play less. You would because if he plays too much, then you’re probably going to be a little bit overwhelmed in the playoffs because of how much energy he has expended. But if this is a situation where he has like he’s not doing too much during the regular season, that’ll be good. That’ll be good enough. All you need is to try to peacemeal the situation into it and like whether it’s Marvin Baggley, Chris Buché, Alex Len, whoever. Like you just have to find a way to get through the regular season because ultimately the the backup center position in the playoffs is Aaron Gordon. A lot of the time it is uh maybe it’s Don Holmes, maybe it’s it’s probably not Zeke Naji. Uh but maybe it’s somebody else that’s not even on the roster yet. We just have to wait and see. But I do think that if Denver cannot get Al Horford, they’ll have to get creative. But there are enough situations here that I I’m not I’m not panicking from Denver’s perspective. Ben Ben Tenzer, John Wallace, they have already, I think, put together a pretty good mix here uh with Denver with this off seasonason. Let’s see if they could get out of the situation. Jackson with the buzzer beater super chat. Bob uh M. Is that R? It’s Bob M question mark. Uh we will see. Uh I I very much doubt that Bob would be available. Would he be a good vibes guy, especially for Nola? Absolutely. That would be crazy. That would be great. Uh, I’m not I’m not expecting it, though. But Jackson, thank you for the super chat. All right, folks. That is going to do it for now for this episode of Pickax and Roll. I’ve went longer than I thought I would, but there’s a lot of different situations to talk through. So, thank you for tuning into the show on Saturday late morning here. Uh, the Nuggets are doing a summer league practice in about like they’re they’re getting ready to start it now. So, I’m going to head down to the arena over the course of this next week. I’m going to do some preview content for summer league and then we get to see Don Holmes play basketball again. I’m very excited about that. Looking forward to talking to him. Looking forward to seeing what’s up. Everybody have a great weekend. Uh, looking forward to seeing how Denver solves this problem. But you better know I will talk to you guys next week.

On the latest Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn breaks down the surprisingly complicated situation between the Denver Nuggets and Jonas Valanciunas, who no longer wants to play in the NBA and appears to have signed a contract in Greece. Where do the Nuggets go from here?

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