Should the New Orleans Pelicans reunite with center Jonas Valanciunas, who was just released by the Denver Nuggets?
The New Orleans Pelicans need a budget option to add to their front court, and someone who could be a perfect fit just popped up on the market.
Jonas Valanciunas was recently released by the Denver Nuggets. His previous stop before that was the Pelicans, and a reunion could make perfect sense for both parties.
There is a chance that the 34-year-old decides to call it a career in the United States, and head home to Lithuania for the remaining years. If he wants to stick around the NBA, not everyone would be able to give him real minutes anymore. He would have a fairly easy path to time on the court with New Orleans.
Last season didn't play out for Valanciunas like many expected. On paper, he's a perfect complement to Nikola Jokic. Nothing really worked for the Nuggets last year, though, so the end result was the worst season of his career. He posted 8.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists on just 13.4 minutes per night.
On a per minute basis, he was actually still doing exactly what the Pelicans need to add to their front court. He was positive in all of these categories: rim protection, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, scoring and playmaking. If he was able to keep up what he did last year on a bigger scale, say 20 minutes per game, New Orleans would be ecstatic to add that to their team.
Valanciunas previously spent three year on the Pelicans. He averaged 14.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Fans know who he is, and mostly miss him from his previous tenure. No one was excited to see him go.
Just like he fits to where Denver didn't have to massively shift their game plan when he was on the court versus Jokic, the same could be said about Derik Queen. Any center who can kind of pass will always gets lumped in together, because it still isn't a skill that every center has.
After a disappointing couple of weeks of free agency for fans, this would be a fairly easy win for the front office, and one that wouldn't cost too much. They'd likely be able to sign him and remain under the luxury tax completely without making any more moves. It would give them further flexibility with their bad contracts.
