{"id":88876,"date":"2024-08-04T15:03:37","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T19:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=88876"},"modified":"2024-08-04T15:03:37","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T19:03:37","slug":"washington-wizards-could-trade-jonas-valanciunas-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/04\/washington-wizards-could-trade-jonas-valanciunas-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Wizards Could Trade New Center This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the beginning of the offseason, the Washington Wizards signed veteran big man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valanjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-04_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonas Valanciunas<\/a>. The 32-year-old signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/30\/nba-free-agency-wizards-surprisingly-sign-center\/\" target=\"_self\">three-year, $30 million contract<\/a> as an unrestricted free agent. Valanciunas is a solid big man and should make the Wizards better. However, his acquisition came as a shock. Washington drafted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sarral01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-04_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Sarr<\/a> with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/21\/recapping-alex-sarrs-summer-league\/\" target=\"_self\">No. 2 pick<\/a> in this year&#8217;s draft. Additionally, the Wizards finished last season with a 15-67 record and are in no position to contend in the near future. Valanciunas does not fit their timeline, making the signing a strange one. However, NBA writer Sean Deveney suggested that the Wizards will likely explore a trade to move Valanciunas when he is eligible in December.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The expectation is that Washington will begin looking for a deal for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valanjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-04_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonas Valan\u010di\u016bnas<\/a> in December when he becomes eligible to be traded, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SeanDeveney?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@SeanDeveney<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3UPn0iHALG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/3UPn0iHALG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1820141217264390404?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Lithuanian native spent the last three seasons of his career with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/22\/will-pelicans-really-roll-the-theis-at-center\/\" target=\"_self\">New Orleans Pelicans<\/a>. With the team, he averaged 14.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. Though he was a solid big man for the team, it was expected for a while that he would be gone during the offseason. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/10\/new-orleans-pelicans-expected-to-move-on-from-starter-jonas-valanciunas\/\" target=\"_self\">HoopsHype&#8217;s Michael Scotto<\/a>, the Pelicans did not view Valanciunas as the right center to pair with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willizi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-04_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zion Williamson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;There\u2019s a sense Jonas Valanciunas won\u2019t return as a Pelican this offseason in free agency, I\u2019m told. Valanciunas essentially split center minutes with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=nancela01,nancela02&amp;search=Larry+Nance&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-04_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Larry Nance<\/a> Jr. this season and was benched often to close games. When Zion is healthy and playing, Valanciunas occupies the paint and clogs driving lanes for Zion. While he\u2019s still a double-double threat, he\u2019s not an ideal fit for this roster, and his near double-double production will likely be more valued by other teams on the unrestricted free-agent market.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Washington Wizards Could Trade Jonas Valanciunas This Year<\/h2>\n<h3>Multiple Teams Linked to Wizards Center<\/h3>\n<p>If the Wizards do decide to trade the big man, many teams will be in the running to land him. So far this offseason, the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nba\/new-york-knicks\/jonas-valanciunas-trade-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Knicks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/22\/los-angeles-lakers-could-add-12-year-center-next-season-jonas-valanciunas\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nba\/golden-state-warriors\/trade-jonas-valanciunas-moses-moody\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Golden State Warriors<\/a> have all been linked to Valanciunas. In July, ESPN&#8217;s Brian Windhorst said he &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t rule out&#8221; Valanciunas ending up on the Lakers by the end of next season.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-04_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>, First-Team All-NBA defense this year \u2026 looks awesome. And even though he\u2019s, like, almost never looked better defensively, you\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/redicjj01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-04_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JJ Redick<\/a> out there on the record saying that, \u2018We need a bruising center,\u2019\u201d Windhorst said. \u201c[That\u2019s] the reason they went after Jonas Valanciunas. By the way, do we think Jonas Valanciunas will be on offer from the Wizards midway through the season? I wouldn\u2019t rule out Jonas Valanciunas eventually ending up a Laker this year.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>The Last Word on Jonas Valanciunas<\/h3>\n<p>Valanciunas is a reliable big man who can help any contender. Additionally, his new contract is rather team-friendly, making him appealing to teams looking to add a center. So far, anything related to a Valanciunas trade is purely rumors. However, the team is highly unlikely to contend this season. Trading the former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/02\/raptors-address-roster-weaknesses-bruno-fernando-free-agent-signing\/\" target=\"_self\">Toronto Raptors<\/a> center would be in Washington&#8217;s best interest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the beginning of the offseason, the Washington Wizards signed veteran big man Jonas Valanciunas. The 32-year-old signed a three-year, $30 million contract as an unrestricted free agent. Valanciunas is a solid big man and should make the Wizards better. However, his acquisition came as a shock. Washington drafted Alex Sarr with the No. 2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":77908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,62,3,4721,18],"tags":[49244,167,1684],"class_list":["post-88876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","category-wizards","tag-alex-sarr","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-zion-williamson"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}