NBA: Sacramento Kings trade Jonas Valanciunas to Denver Nuggets for Dario Saric-Reports

The Denver Nuggets continue remodeling their roster in the offseason and have reshuffled their frontcourt bench. According to multiple reports, the Nuggets are trading center Jonas Valanciunas from the Sacramento Kings for forward/center Dario Saric. The Nuggets started the NBA's free agency period not with a reported signing, but with a reported trade by sending forward Michael Porter Jr. and a second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for swingman Cameron Johnson.

The Nuggets also reached a reported one-year agreement with free-agent guard Bruce Brown, who was a key member of Denver's 2023 NBA championship team. Valanciunas has played 13 seasons in the NBA and put up 10.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2 assists per game last season, which was split between the Kings and Washington Wizards.

In DC, Valanciunas averaged 11.5 ppg and 8.2 rpg in 20.1 mpg. After going to Sacramento in a trade, he scored 8.7 ppg and 7 rpg in 16.9 mpg in 32 games in Sacramento. Saric used his player option with Denver, but his production fell way off in 2024-25 after tallying 3.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg and 1.4 apg following his 8 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 2.3 apg totals in 2023-24 with the Golden State Warriors. He played just 16 games for Denver in the last season.

The Nuggets have also long looked for a quality backup to three-time MVP center Nikola Jokic and hope Valanciunas, a 13-year veteran, answers that call.

Meanwhile, on June 30, Bojan Bogdanovic, who played 10 NBA seasonsannounced his retirement, after the 36-year-old forward nagged by a left foot injury. Bogdanovic was born in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but played internationally for Croatia. He played for his hometown club, signed with Real Madrid and later joined Zagreb and Fenerbahce. He won Croatian and Turkish league titles before making his NBA debut with Brooklyn in 2014 and later played for Washington, Indiana, Utah, Detroit and New York.