The Nuggets have decided to let go of center Jonas Valanciunas, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Valanciunas’ $10MM salary for 2026/27, which was already partially guaranteed for $2MM, would have become fully guaranteed if he hadn’t been waived on Wednesday.

Valanciunas was traded from Sacramento to Denver last offseason in exchange for Dario Saric and became the Nuggets’ primary backup center behind Nikola Jokic. The 6’11” Lithuanian made 65 appearances (six starts), averaging 8.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 13.4 minutes per contest while shooting 58.2% from the floor. However, he barely played in the first round of the playoffs vs. Minnesota, totaling just 25 minutes across four outings.

Around the time Denver acquired him last year, Valanciunas reportedly sought a move to the Greek club Panathinaikos, but the Nuggets were unwilling to negotiate a buyout since they envisioned him playing a role for them in 2025/26. A year later, his $10MM salary was determined to be too onerous for a team operating in tax apron territory.

The Nuggets will have until August 29 to decide whether they want to keep the big man’s entire $2MM partial guarantee on the 2026/27 books or spread his cap hit across the next three seasons using the stretch provision. Taking the latter route would reduce his ’26/27 cap charge to about $667K.

More to come…