During the offseason, it was no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers were looking to add center depth, although they were unable to do so. Their top target seemed to be Jonas Valanciunas, who instead signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Washington Wizards.
Reports indicated that LeBron James was willing to take a pay cut for the Lakers to sign Valanciunas, among other players. He still wound up in Washington though and the Lakers stood pat.
Even though Valanciunas just signed the new deal with the Wizards, they are rebuilding and trying to collect as many assets as possible. Because of that, it’s was likely that Valanciunas would get traded after becoming eligible on Dec. 15 and before the trade deadline in February.
The Lakers continued to express interest in Valanciunas and have a need at the center position. Valanciunas will not be filling that need, however, as he was traded to the Sacramento Kings, per Shams Charania of ESPN:
The Washington Wizards are trading Jonas Valanciunas to the Sacramento Kings for Sidy Cissoko and two second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2025
When the Lakers made a blockbuster move by trading Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic, they had an obvious need at the center position and that remains with a handful of hours until the deadline.
For the Kings, the addition of Valanciunas will give them some size in the frontcourt along with Domantas Sabonis. The Lakers already played them four times this season though, winning all of them, so they may not see Valanciunas until next season barring a playoff matchup.
In 49 games with Washington this season, Valanciunas is averaging 11.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists. He obviously does not provide the impact that Davis did on either end of the court, but Valanciunas is a veteran that will add some much-needed size to the Lakers roster.
Rob Pelinka discusses Lakers’ need at center
While it won’t be Jonas Valanciunas, the Lakers still have a need at center and Rob Pelinka discussed the challenge of acquiring one before the deadline.
“We know that our roster has continued work to do to become complete,” Pelinka admitted. “And just to be clear around the vision for our roster, we’re going to build a roster that fits JJ Reddick’s philosophy, his basketball philosophy. That’s something that we believe in, that we support, that we want to lean into. So, in terms of roster decisions, JJ and I collaborate extensively around that and fitting how he wants to play. We know we have a need for a big the market for bigs right now leading into the last two or three days of the trade deadline is very dry. There’s just not a lot available. So maybe we’ll be able to do some stuff around the margins.
“I would say, in terms of a big move for that position, it’s probably more realistic that would be something that comes in the offseason. But Luka will be at the center of that as we build for the long term. We want to format a team that fits JJ’s coaching style and his strengths and his needs to help us win a championship with the other people that are also on our team right now who are going to be a big part of that winning as well. But your question was about long term, so I’m speaking more to long term.”
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