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If the Knicks want to keep their eyes on potential NBA trade additions to bolster the team’s frontcourt in the wake of losing backup center Isaiah Hartenstein this offseason, they might do well to look a big down I-95. That’s where the Wizards will employ center Jonas Valanciunas—at least, on a temporary basis.
The belief around the NBA is that the rebuilding Wizards signed the 32-year-old Valanciunas with the intention of trading him off to the highest bidder in the coming months. They will want, at least, a first-round draft pick for him which means the three-year, $30.3 million contract they handed him (only the first two years are guaranteed) amounts to buying a draft pick.
Valanciunas averaged 12.2 points and 8.8 rebounds for New Orleans last season, and eyebrows around the NBA were raised when the Wiz ponied up $10 million per year to sign him.
“It was a brilliant deal for the Wizards and it was a brilliant deal for him and his agents, too,” one NBA executive told Heavy Sports. “The Wizards don’t need him and don’t want him, they do not want to win games next year—they want the No. 1 pick. So, probably early January, you are going to see them shopping him, seeing if they can get a first-round pick, and as long as he stays healthy, they should be able to.”
Expect the Knicks to keep close watch of that situation.
Knicks Would Have Competition on a Potential Trade
As things stand, Valanciunas can’t be traded until September and probably won’t be traded until January at the earliest. The Knicks would not want him before then, anyway, as the team waits out it sown backup center situation. Re-signing Precious Achiuwa is the most likely option, with a trade for a bargain backup like Charlotte’s Nick Richards or Utah’s Walker Kessler also on the docket.
But Valanciunas could be a top option if the season gets rolling and either Mitchell Robinson gets hurt or the Knicks’ reserve situation proves untenable.
Early in the offseason, the Lakers were viewed as a likely landing spot for Valanciunas, but the team could not clear its books enough to free up the use of a full midlevel exception. But there will be other teams eyeing Valanciunas in the first half of 2024-25.
“You’re going to get the Lakers interested again, they are probably in better shape to get him because they can make it work through a trade,” the exec said. “But they’d have to give up a pick because there will be a market. The Knicks, we’ll see how their center spot develops. The Warriors, if the (Lauri) Markkanen thing does not work out. Milwaukee, we will see what happens with Brook (Lopez).”
Jonas Valanciunas Signing Could Be a Trend-Setter
Signing a player in the offseason just to look to trade him in the regular season is not particularly common in the NBA, but it is a frequent practice in Major League Baseball. With available cap space and the ability to finagle the rules of the CBA much more limited under new luxury tax and “apron” rules in the NBA, the Wizards might be on to something.
“It is a really smart deal for (Valanciunas) because it got him paid at a time when there were just not that many spots available—it’s musical chairs and if you do not get one of the first slots now with the new rules, you’re screwed,” the exec said. “There’s not as much flexibility. But this gets you paid, and the team paying you can say, ‘Hey, we’ll get you to a contender when the time comes.’
“You see it in baseball all the time, a guy who signs with a bad team just to be traded later, and you’re going to see more of it in our game.”
The Knicks, for one, are paying attention.
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