Sacramento Kings End-of-Season Report Card: Jonas Valanciunas

There was no question that Valančiūnas is a productive player, but how would he play with the Kings?

Through 32 appearances for the Kings, Valančiūnas averaged 8.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game.

The Good

Jonas’ counting stats may seem casual, but when you dive into his per 36-minute numbers, he looks like someone who would be getting All-Star votes. 

With Sacramento, Valančiūnas averaged 18.6 points and 14.8 rebounds per 36 minutes, which is comparable to Domantas Sabonis’ per 36 numbers. In fact, Valančiūnas actually averages more rebounds per 36 minutes than Sabonis, who led the league in rebounds this season. 

As mentioned in Brenden Nunes’ tweet, getting Valančiūnas finally gave the Kings a fighting chance if Sabonis ever went down. Alex Len, who was really the only big option Sacramento had before Valančiūnas, had a -16.4 net rating in just 7.6 minutes per game pre-All-Star break this season, and that just isn’t good enough to compete in the Western Conference. 

Compare this to Jonas’ +4.5 net rating after the All-Star break, and you have a 20.6 differential between the two players. When Sabonis went down and missed nine games, the Kings were up against some of the best teams in the NBA and could’ve easily lost every game with a Play-In berth on the line. While Sacramento still lost six out of nine, wins over Dallas, San Antonio, and Cleveland kept Sacramento afloat, and Valančiūnas was a big part of that. 

As a starter, Valančiūnas averaged 11 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and .9 blocks per game in 23 minutes. Overall, Valančiūnas had a net rating of 12 according to basketball-reference.com and was second on the entire team with a PER (Player Efficiency Rating) of 21.2. Jonas also had a huge impact with his personality. 

The Bad

Valančiūnas is a solid interior scorer who uses his strength to overpower players close to the hoop, but he doesn’t have much of a perimeter game at all. While it’s unfair to expect Valančiūnas to take multiple threes per game, his lack of floor-stretching ability made things hard for a Kings team that already struggled with spacing. In fact, Valančiūnas made only eight threes all season and just one with Sacramento. 

Meanwhile, Domantas Sabonis had a career year from three, shooting 41% from deep on the most attempts per game he’s ever had. It’s a bit unfair to put shooting in the “bad” category for Jonas, but comparing his numbers to Sabonis shows a big drop-off that wasn’t ideal for the Kings. 

The other issue with Valančiūnas is that he isn’t the best rim protector or perimeter defender. While Jonas averages more blocks per game than Sabonis, he is actually worse when it comes to defensive field goal percentage on shots less than six feet away from the rim and less than ten feet away. 

Opponents shot 3.7% better than the league average when defended by Valančiūnas on shots less than six feet away, while shooting 3.2% worse when defended by Sabonis. This wouldn’t be a huge problem if Sabonis were considered an elite interior defender, but he isn’t. Valančiūnas also struggled defending the three this season, with opponents shooting 44% from deep with Jonas as the nearest defender. 

Valančiūnas was a huge reason why Sacramento was able to make the Play-In and get a home game this season. If the Kings didn’t trade for Jonas and Sabonis still went down for nine games, I’m not sure they don’t let Phoenix jump them in the standings. While Jonas isn’t without his limitations, he gets one of the highest grades on the team this season for his massive impact off the bench. 

Grade: A-