BREAKING NEWS: Nuggets acquire Jonas Valanciunas in trade with Kings for Dario Saric | ESPN SC

BREAKING NEWS: Nuggets acquire Jonas Valanciunas in trade with Kings for Dario Saric | ESPN SC

Right now, the Sacramento Kings trading Yonas Valenunis to the Nuggets for Daario Sarich. That news just coming down as we are on live on CBS Sports HQ. Now, what does that mean for Denver? Well, we have our NBA experts Brad Bodkin, Ashley Nicole Moss joining us now. Uh, this Valenunis news, your take? Do you like it? Do you hate it?
Yeah. No, I do. The Nuggets are having a really, really good couple of first days. I mean that deal for Michael Porter, they finally got Michael Porter off their books. They bring in Cam Johnson, a better player.
Save 17 million.
Save 17 million. And he is an unbelievable shooter. And this is the key on the move. He’s one of the best movement shooters in the league. Pair that with Nicole Joic.
Great, great pairing. Then they bring back the old friend Bruce Brown. Bruce Brown, who was really the start of the exodus after the championship season when they say, “Oh my god, they’re losing all their debt.” Big part of that. Bruce Brown was the guy that they lost. They bring him back. jack of all trades guy fits perfectly in the Joic dynamic and now they get center depth behind Joic. The whole thing that the Nuggets and we’ve talked about this on multiple shows that they need to figure out is the minutes that Joic is not on the floor. So now they bring in a guy who’s been a starter in the league but now is in a place in his career where he’s not going to anchor a team but he can give you those 15 to 20 minutes and rest Joic a little bit to keep your second unit afloat. Love what the Nuggets are doing so far. Yeah, I agree with everything Brad said. And when we were talking about the Denver Nuggets, I specifically said, “Look, you have to do what you need to do to keep uh to keep Jokic happy.” And look, this is a team that has historically been frugal to say the least. They’re not a team that’s going to go into the luxury tax. They don’t like to spend a lot of money. They play the long game, not the short game. And it worked because they won the championship in 2022. And to Brad’s point, they lost a lot of the pieces that made them a championship team with Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, and they’ve been struggling to recreate that magic. I think Michael Porter Jr. was a huge huge task to figure out. Makes a lot of money to be the third option and it is not a reliable third option at all. They needed to bring a lot of that debt back. They needed another shooter to pair with Jamal Murray who can be inconsistent throughout the regular season and sometimes the offseason. I mean the postseason, excuse me. So they addressed all of those issues. And again, Bruce Brown was a huge acquisition to bring back into the Denver Nuggets organization. Outside of the fact of everything Brad said, he’s a fan favorite. He’s familiar with the system. He’s familiar with these guys. This is a great move for the Denver Nuggets. They don’t need much when you have the best player in the world. You don’t need much to be a good basketball team. They just took themselves to the next level.
Good stuff.
They certainly did. So, as we just noted, Cam Johnson now with the Nuggets, Valenunis now with the Nuggets. They brought ground back. When you look at the West now, there’s been a lot of improvements, not only from the Nuggets, but the Mavs and the Rockets also making some moves. Which team now has the edge? What are we doing with the the Lakers have added Jake Lorravia and lost Dorian Fenny Smith and they’re ahead of the Timberwolves and the Warriors. This put the Mav speaks to a lot of sucker betters out there that they’re going to make this bet. But I know I I really like I mean I I love what the Nuggets have done. I love what the Rock I mean the Rockets are the team to talk about. They trade for Kevin Durant. Okay. Now they go and they steal Dorian Finny Smith from the Lakers. So they weaken an opponent in one stroke. master stroke. They bring in a perfect two-way player in Dorian Finny Smith. Uh they continue with the defensive pressure that they can apply. They kept all of the Tari East and Amen Thompson and they got Steven Adams on the boards. Think about the big man versatility that the Rockets have now. Clint Capella, athletic rim rolling, rim protector. Uh the mountain in in Steven Adams, who’s your gargantuan rebounder. And then Alfred Shangon, who’s the scoring skilled allstar. They can play so many different ways now. They can play two big lineups, one big lineup, no big lineups. They resigned. Jabari Smith, Kevin Durant is long. He can occupy paint positioning on defense if they go small. They have so much lineup versatility. They didn’t give up any of their meaningful depth to get Durant and they’re only adding to it now. Um Clint Capella at this point is just an embarrassment of Riches at center for this.
Yeah. Yeah. When they signed him, it was like you don’t even need him.
Lakers don’t even have a center and and the Rockets have three starting centers. So, I look at that list we just put up and I and right now as it as it looks, we got to see what the Warriors end up doing with Jonathan Kaminga. But, as it looks to me, the the Nuggets and the Rockets are looking really good out west
for sure. And I’m actually going to throw an honorable mention. If we can break that list up one more time, I’d actually move the Mavs up a little bit higher for this particular reason. Yes, I understand that Kyrie Irving is dealing with an injury. He’s going to miss part of the season. And obviously we know that Anthony Davis, although he’s had healthy seasons these past few seasons, relatively speaking for Anthony Davis, I would definitely put them above right now. The Warriors, the Timberwolves, and the Lakers. I’ll tell you why. This team is low-key stacked. And I think when healthy, they are a lot better than people are giving them credit for. I understand Cooper Flag is going to be making that rookie adjustment and the adjustment from the collegiate game to the professional game, but if anybody’s NBA ready, it’s this guy at number three at the the three spot right here. Um, this is a much better team. When Kyrie Irving comes back, if they can get a nice veteran PG to hold things down and keep things afloat, I would watch out for
Dangelo Russ. I know, but he’s an innings eater until Kyrie, you’re right. And I think AD and and D’Angelo Russell, hopefully they have a better tenure than they did in the Lakers.
If you bet right now on on the Mavericks at at 20 to1 Yeah.
and Kyrie comes back, that’s good. A lot higher than I think they are in that list right there. They they look good. Uh it’s funny because when we all walked into the office this morning, we thought the big news was going to be that um Shay Gildas Alexander agreed to a four-year $285 million contract extension with the Thunder. Now 20 on a player like DeAndre Aiden. So right now the reports out there are saying that the Lakers and the Pacers are now in the mix for
your thoughts on that.
I mean of course they are. He’s the best available. It’s like this is this it’s not because DeAndre Aen is some like unicorn at the center position. I mean, if we’re going to be honest, there have been a lot of strikes in his career that have kind of made it not worth the talent that he does possess. Let’s make it very clear. This is a talented basketball player. Everybody in the NBA has a level of talent, but sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, and that’s kind of been the narrative about DeAndre Aton. But this just goes to the point that Brad and I have kind of been saying over these past few days. It speaks to how thin the market is this particular off season, this particular free agency season, that DeAndre Aiden is somehow now the most viable option, the the most the diamond in the rough, if you will, that now you have not one but two teams that will likely be fighting each other to get him on their roster because they are desperately in need of a center.
That’s the word, desperate. The Lakers are desperate for a center. So we’re if they sign DeAndre Aton, we’re going to do breaking news and we’re going to say the Lakers got DeAndre Aton. DeAndre Aton is not a good player. Like he’s not like this is
No, he has I wouldn’t say he’s not good. He’s inconsistent. That’s the word I would use. Inconsistent is the word I would use.
Okay. DeAndre Aiden.
Everyone in the NBA is good.
Well, fine. But we’re talking about NBA standards. Be like if somebody picked up campaign. That’s why I said he’s not he’s not an elite player. He’s a good play. He’s a solid player. Z will offer zero change to your team.
So, we’re gonna if the Lakers pick up DeAndre Aiden, we’re going to have a conversation like what does this do for the Lakers? Nothing. Nothing. This is true. This is true. I mean, it it does help Luca essentially in Luca’s game because we’ve been talking about Luca needs to play with a center.
And a good center there. He’s going to play with a center. Jackson Hayes is a center. He needs a good center.
But I would say I would put I would put DeAndre Aen above Jackson Hayes. I would
I mean
I’m not saying he’s I’m not again I’m not saying he’s like the Messiah but what I’m saying is is like in comparison of the little group we can agree it speaks to class speaks to class. Okay. So we we also got the the breaking news which we touched upon at the beginning here about Dame Lillard out in Milwaukee. Uh Bucks reportedly waving his waving Lillard and $13 million that are left on his contract to clear space to um sign free agent Miles Turner. So when you think about Dame now and what his future looks like, where are some landing spots?
He’s the winner. He’s the winner.
Well, he’s he’s the winner, but he’s also kind of in a tough predicament. He’s the winner because look, Milwaukee was never where he wanted to be. Let’s be honest. You know, we all know the saga of he is in Portland. He requests the trade. This is an organization he gave his entire career

BREAKING NEWS: Nuggets acquire Jonas Valanciunas in trade with Kings for Dario Saric | ESPN SC