July 6th news , in the context of the increasingly diversified global basketball landscape, another experienced NBA center is about to bid farewell to the North American arena. According to multiple authoritative sources, Lithuanian veteran center Jonas Valanciunas has basically decided to leave the NBA and join the European giants Panathinaikos, giving up his original $ 10.39 million guaranteed contract in the NBA.

This news is undoubtedly a "wake-up call" for the Denver Nuggets who just brought him into the team. Previously, the Nuggets completed a trade with the Kings to exchange forward Saric for Varan, with the goal of making him an ideal substitute for Jokic and reducing the burden on the core of the team. However, before he even put on the Nuggets jersey, the experienced center was rumored to be planning to "jump ship".

According to follow-up reports from the authoritative European basketball media "BasketNews" and the well-known American reporter Marc Stein, Varan has reached a verbal agreement with the Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos. The contract is for three years with a total value of 12 million euros (about 12.9 million US dollars). The annual salary is almost equal to his current income in the NBA.

More importantly, this European contract is fully guaranteed , while giving Varan more of a "tactical core" status, as well as geographical convenience - Panathinaikos is closer to Varan's homeland of Lithuania, making it easier to take care of his family. This is a huge temptation for a 34-year-old veteran.

In the past year, he has been traded to many teams, from the Pelicans to the Wizards, and then to the Kings. After playing for the Kings for only half a season, he was involved in the Saric trade. The reality of being frequently traded as a bargaining chip has made this veteran feel tired of the NBA ecosystem, and he has turned to seek a more stable and valued professional environment.

From a tactical point of view, the Nuggets originally intended to reduce Jokic's burden by introducing Valanciunas, especially to give the team more rotation space in the interior during the regular season. But now that Valanciunas is about to "jump ship", the original reinforcement plan may be completely scrapped.

Although the Nuggets are still trying to persuade Varan to stay , according to League Alerts' exclusive disclosure, Varan has planned to fly to Athens tomorrow morning to meet with Panathinaikos executives. All signs indicate that he has basically made the decision to leave the team.

The "rejection of $10.39 million" incident not only put the Nuggets in a passive position, but also once again aroused the outside world's attention to the flow of NBA players to overseas leagues. As the economic strength and competitive level of European basketball have both improved, more and more senior players have chosen to return to Europe to seek new challenges and higher respect.