Jonas Valanciunas isn’t officially a Denver Nugget yet. In fact, it hasn’t even been guaranteed he’ll play in the NBA this season.
But you wouldn’t know that from listening to head coach David Adelman, who spoke as if the veteran center was already in Denver’s rotation. During the Nuggets’ Summer League debut Thursday night, the head coach outlined how the team plans to use the man they call “Lithuanian Lightning.”
Denver used some salary cleared in the blockbuster Michael Porter Jr. swap for Cameron Johnson to pry Valanciunas from the Kings — sending just the rarely used Dario Saric back. Since the deal was reported, there have been a few hiccups, including a reported flirtation by Valanciunas with the idea of leaving the NBA for Europe. That seems to have finally cooled, clearing a pathway for the big man to join the Nuggets in a role they’ve badly needed.
Denver has cycled through 19 different backup bigs since Mason Plumlee left in 2020. Valanciunas is the latest — and perhaps the best — attempt to fix the problem. The Nuggets have typically approached Nikola Jokic’s bench minutes in one of two ways:
Imitate Jokic’s style with a similarly skilled big who can pass, post up and facilitate — even if no one matches his brilliance.
Switch things up entirely, using a more traditional big in spread pick-and-roll (like DeAndre Jordan), or going small with Aaron Gordon at center in switch-heavy lineups.
(I covered these two options in more depth on Thursday’s episode of the Mile High Hoops Podcast.)
Last season, they tried the first method with Saric, hoping he could mimic Jokic’s skillset. That didn’t work. So they pivoted back to a Plan B approach — one that lacked offensive continuity but stabilized the bench defense.
“Point center. You can play combo guards, you don’t need a lead point guard, you can play five-out offense, play off the elbow, post him up. He’s such a skilled player,” Adelman said on ESPN’s Summer League broadcast. “It’s funny, I think people forget that we had the DeMarcus Cousins years back, and this will be the first time I think we have our backup with a similar skill set style to Nicola because DeMarcus was such a great player, where he could load him up on the post, he could play on the perimeter.
Jonas is the same — and he shoots the ball better than most people realize. So that’s how I envision him. I think you have multiple combination guards. You can get away with that with a guy like that. A guy that is that talented.”
Adelman’s quote gives us a few big takeaways — each with implications for the Nuggets’ roster and rotation.
Jonas Valanciunas is coming to the Nuggets
Maybe this is a quote that is part of the cherry on top of Denver’s pitch to get Valanciunas to play in Denver, maybe it’s just a coach saying glowing things about a player. Most wouldn’t label Valanciunas a point-center. He ranked ninth among 46 centers in assists per minute last season. His playmaking mark in his career is slightly lower. Though he’s a good passer, he’s only once averaged 2.5 or more helpers per game for a season in his career.
Nevertheless, the important thing here is Adelman is already talking about his player, which rarely happens until trades are finalized — it’s a sign we’ll soon see an announcement about the move. While the trade hasn’t been finalized, Adelman’s comments suggest confidence that Valanciunas is joining the team. If so, it raises some intriguing questions: Did Denver make him a future promise? Could the Nuggets revisit his deal and offer an extension that guarantees him money in 2026-27?”
Jonas Valanciunas as a DeMarcus Cousins comparison
Starting with the point-center thing — Boogie averaged 2.5 or more helpers per game eight times in his 11 seasons, and two of the three occasions he didn’t were when he was playing as a backup after his devastating Achilles injury. Cousins is undoubtedly a greater talent, but by the time he got to the Nuggets, it was almost over.
Yet Cousins has the top six and nine of the best 11 scoring outputs in any games (playoffs included) from a reserve center since Plumlee left. And the rare games Jokic didn’t start — Cousins has two of just three performances where a Denver center who was not the league’s MVP cracked 15 points since the 2020-21 season began — Cousins even had a 30-ball, and Jordan is the only other to get 15 or more. This is where it’s worth pointing out Cousins was only with the Nuggets for 36 games and hasn’t played in the NBA since — seemingly, he wasn’t welcome back because of locker room issues.
Just last season, Valanciunas scored 20 or more off the bench four times — all would be better than Cousins’ high off the bench of 19. In total, JV scored 15 or more 20 times last year — mostly as a backup to Domantas Sabonis and Alex Sarr, but across seven starts as well. From a pure scoring point, Adelman is on the mark. Denver has not had as talented an offensive bench big since Cousins.
Like Boogie, who was a sneaky solid 3-point shooter, Val can let it fly too. He took about 1.5 per game over his few seasons between Memphis and New Orleans — hitting at a 35% clip. Boogie shot about 33% for his career and with the Nuggets from deep at a similar take rate.
There are a few more similarities, too. Cousins was one of the better post scorers of his era. Valanciunas can do that too, last year he was 1.05 points per possession — 75th percentile in the league, when acting as a hub for his teams there.
Cousins once led the NBA with a defensive rebounding rate of 31%. Nine years later, Valanciunas ranked best on the same leaderboard, with a 33% defensive rebounding rate — also leading the NBA in total rebounding rate that year. Last season, Valanciunas’ .41 rebounds per minute was best in the NBA.
While Valanciunas may not match Cousins’ peak explosiveness, the similarities are striking — and from a statistical and stylistic perspective, he could be the closest Denver has had to Jokic in a backup gig. From rebounding rates to offensive repertoire, Valanciunas can allow the Nuggets to deploy a similar strategy with their starters and bench play, unlike the radically different plans they tried to utilize with past players in this role.
Adelman’s BIG plan for Valanciunas impacts the Nuggets roster
As of Friday morning, the Nuggets still have an open roster spot and an open two-way slot. Denver is likely to use that open roster spot on a veteran free agent, and that two-way slot is likely to be won by a Summer League guy. Denver can spend quite a bit of money on their 15th and final spot on the main roster thanks to the MPJ trade. This will allow the Nuggets to acquire yet another rotation player in an offseason where they’ve already seemingly added five — counting Johnson, Valanciunas, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr. and DaRon Holmes II.
Brown and Hardaway, both on minimum deals, add experienced depth behind Jamal Murray, Christian Braun and Johnson. They’ll be battling for minutes with youngsters like Jalen Pickett, Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson. Meanwhile, Holmes is a first-year player who missed his true rookie year with an Achilles injury, so the Nuggets may not want to rely on him.
There are a lot of ways the Nuggets can go with their final roster spot — on paper, they lack a true backup point guard with experience. They could use a bit more proven forward depth, a third-string big and simply more perimeter defense.
Adelman’s comments about using multiple combo guards with Valanciunas may hint at how Denver will fill its final roster spot. It suggests the team may not be prioritizing a traditional point guard. That suggests the Nuggets aren’t pursuing a traditional point guard, and that Brown could reprise the role he played during Denver’s title season.
It’s curious who Adelman sees as another combo guard to make it two playing backup minutes with Val. Maybe it’s THJ or Strawther, or maybe it’s the player they’re looking at still on the market. If Denver does add there, look for them to again prioritize 3-point shooting — it’s what the new front office has done in every move this summer. Adelman seems confident in the team’s ball-handling and playmaking depth — meaning the Nuggets may focus on perimeter defense and spacing with their final addition.
