The Nuggets have made a clean, decisive call on Jonas Valančiūnas, waiving the center on Wednesday and effectively cutting ties with a player who was supposed to be their insurance policy behind Nikola Jokic. That is the hard truth of this move: Denver did not bring Valančiūnas in to be a decorative bench piece, and it certainly did not trade for him just to watch him fade into the background when the games mattered most.
Last offseason, Valančiūnas arrived from Sacramento in exchange for Dario Saric, a move that at least made sense on paper. He brought size, experience and a track record that suggested he could give the Nuggets something sturdy when Jokic sat. Instead, the storyline drifted toward disappointment. In 65 appearances this season, Valančiūnas averaged 8.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 13.4 minutes per contest while shooting 58.2%. Those are not useless numbers. But they are also not the kind of numbers that force a team to build trust.
A backup center who never quite became indispensable
The real warning sign came in the first round of the playoffs against Minnesota, where Valančiūnas totaled just 25 minutes across four outings. For a player who had been the Nuggets' primary backup center, that is a brutally small role when the stakes rise. It suggests a very simple conclusion: Denver did not see enough reason to keep leaning on him, even when the rotation tightened and the margin for error shrank.
There is a business side to this as well. Valančiūnas had a $10MM salary in 2026/27 that was partially guaranteed before the waiver, and now that money is no longer on track to become fully guaranteed. That matters, because the move is not only about basketball. It is also about timing, flexibility and the Nuggets deciding that the value he offered did not justify carrying the deal forward.
In fairness, this is not a case of a player collapsing or producing nothing. Valančiūnas gave Denver serviceable regular-season minutes and handled a backup role without drama. But the postseason told the sharper story. When Minnesota arrived, he barely played, and that is often the clearest verdict a contender can hand down.
The Nuggets have chosen clarity over sentiment. Jonas Valančiūnas is out, the backup center spot is open again, and Denver has made it plain that “useful” is not the same thing as “essential.”
