Veteran center is reportedly considering leaving NBA for EuroLeague

League sources confirm to NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link) that a possible return to Europe holds “strong appeal” to Valanciunas.

Valanciunas, who has been in the NBA since 2012, remains under contract for two more seasons, with a $10.4M guaranteed salary for 2025-26 and a $10M non-guaranteed salary for ’26-27. In other words, he can’t freely sign with Panathinaikos without extricating himself from that deal.

He’s also in the process of changing NBA teams. The Kings and Nuggets agreed to a trade on Tuesday that would sent the Lithuanian big man to Denver in exchange for Dario Saric, but it can’t be finalized until after the July moratorium lifts on Sunday.

It’s unclear if Valanciunas’ rumored move to Athens would scuttle that deal, or if the two teams would still go through with the trade and Valanciunas would subsequently look to complete a buyout with the Nuggets.

Former EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov was in a similar situation last offseason — as rumors about his possible return to Europe swirled, he was traded from Sacramento to Toronto, where he eventually agreed to a buyout with the Raptors that saw him give up all of his remaining guaranteed salary ($6.7M) so that he could sign with Olympiacos in Greece.

If the Valanciunas situation plays out in a similar fashion, the Nuggets could end up creating some cap savings as a result of a buyout, but they’d be losing a player they’d identified as a reliable backup for superstar Nikola Jokic and would have to return to the trade market and/or free agency to find someone else to fill that slot.

Valanciunas, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2011 draft, has nearly averaged a double-double across 937 regular season games, with 13.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. In 81 outings for Washington and Sacramento last season, he put up 10.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 18.8 minutes per night.