Nuggets waive veteran center Jonas Valanciunas

Valanciunas gave the Nuggets solid minutes behind Nikola Jokic during the regular season, averaging 8.7 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 58.2 percent from the field in 65 games. But his role all but disappeared during Denver’s first-round playoff loss to the Timberwolves, when he logged just 25 total minutes in four games.

That pretty much told the story.

The Nuggets originally acquired Valanciunas from the Kings in exchange for Dario Saric, hoping he’d provide one of the NBA’s better backup centers behind Jokic. Instead, Denver ultimately decided the $10 million price tag no longer made sense as it continues trying to navigate the league’s restrictive apron rules.

Denver now has until Aug. 29 to determine whether to keep Valanciunas’ $2 million guaranteed salary on this season’s books or stretch that amount over three years, which would reduce this year’s cap hit to roughly $667,000.

Valanciunas, 34, now becomes one of the more accomplished big men available on the free-agent market.

MORE HOOPS | NBA free agents by position