It’s the final weekend before the NBA regular season begins, which means you’re coming here for your fantasy basketball drafts.
Should you draft Jonas Valančiūnas this season? Here’s the latest outlook, projections, and rankings for the Denver Nuggets Center.
Should You Draft Jonas Valančiūnas in Fantasy Basketball?
Structurally, Jonas Valanciunas was a great add this offseason for a Nuggets team that has championship aspirations, but asking him to get even close to the 10.4 points and 7.7 rebounds that he averaged a season ago is too optimistic.
Playing behind Nikola Jokic (74.5 games played per season for his career) removes the most valuable part of being a Nugget: drifting off of everything that the MVP candidate handles.
Will Denver explore with some two-big lineups? I don’t think it happens a ton and this team is built around a playmaking big. Valanicunas is good at what he does, but the 33-year-old is limited and the supporting cast isn’t built to feature his strengths.
This is a name you know, but not one I’m overly interested in closing my draft with.
Looking for more fantasy basketball outlooks? Head over to our NBA landing page for analysis on 200 players.
What Are Valančiūnas’s Fantasy Basketball Projections This Season?
Based on our proprietary metrics here at PFSN, we project Valančiūnas to score 1,342.3 fantasy points this season, with him averaging 8.0 points per game.
This includes 3.2 field goals per game, 0.2 three-pointers per game, 1.4 free throws per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, 1.4 assists per game, 0.2 steals per game, and 0.5 blocks per game.
Where Does Jonas Valančiūnas Rank in the Upcoming Fantasy Basketball Season?
Valančiūnas is ranked 182nd overall and 35th at his position. The five players ranked ahead of him overall include Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Alex Caruso, Mason Plumlee, Marcus Smart, and Jordan Hawkins.
The five players ranked behind him overall include Saddiq Bey, Miles McBride, Christian Braun, Cameron Johnson, and Chris Boucher.
The five players ranked ahead of him at his position include Joel Embiid, Derik Queen, Goga Bitadze, Kyle Filipowski, and Plumlee.
The five players ranked behind him at his position include Jusuf Nurkić, Al Horford, Neemias Queta, Jay Huff, and Zach Collins.
