Throughout Nikola Jokic’s career with the Denver Nuggets, the team hasn’t made his life easy. The Nuggets have had a few below-average centers, but that could change with Jonas Valanciunas on the roster.
While Valanciunas made some concerning comments, with many suggesting that he wanted to go overseas, it sounds like he plans to play for the Nuggets next season, barring anything drastic happening.
Beyond that, it remains uncertain, but as long as the Nuggets have him for a year, they should be able to figure things out after that.
But there’s also reason to think that the Nuggets could find another decent player on the buyout market eventually, and perhaps have said player be their long-term option behind Jokic. Cal Durrett of HoopsHabit recently proposed one idea, naming them a perfect fit for Nikola Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls.
Vucevic reportedly doesn’t have much trade value, but many around the league expect him to be bought out by the Bulls sometime over the next year.
“Whether Vucevic makes sense for the Nuggets depends on how good (or bad) Valanciunas is. Valanciunas was a longtime starter but will settle into a role as a low-minutes backup center.
“If he can crash the glass, score in the paint, and hit the occasional three, then he should be more than fine backing up Jokic. He should still have enough in the tank to do that, though the drama surrounding him potentially signing with a Greek team raises questions,” he wrote.
Vucevic and Jokic together would be a defensive nightmare for the Nuggets, so it wouldn’t exactly be the best fit in terms of a pairing. However, if Vucevic could take some of the load off Jokic during the regular season, it could help the Nuggets stay healthy.
At the very least, he’s a double-double machine and still has some value, especially if it’s on the buyout market.
