The OKC Thunder are officially the team to beat after winning the 2025 NBA Championship, and it appears the vast majority of teams out west are doing everything in their power to secure the conference crown for themselves come 2025-26.
For the reigning second-seeded Houston Rockets, their approach to try to edge out Oklahoma City is by adding extra star power to their arsenal by acquiring Kevin Durant via blockbuster trade.
The LA Clippers, meanwhile, have been quite busy in free agency, adding several established All-Star players to their roster, with the signing of Chris Paul being their latest splash.
Of course, the team that warrants the most attention as being the top threat to Oklahoma City's repeat chances is the Denver Nuggets, who have spent the last couple of months bolstering the complementary talent pool around their core trio of Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and superstar center Nikola Jokic.
From acquiring sharpshooter Cameron Johnson via trade with the Brooklyn Nets to signing Tim Hardaway Jr. in free agency, Denver has undoubtedly addressed its dire need for roster depth, the lack of which played a pivotal role in their second-round demise to the Thunder this past postseason.
However, amid the excitement sparked by the CP3-Clippers reunion, the Nuggets were also hit with some exciting news that now makes their summer shenanigans even more prominent — and, simultaneously, more threatening to OKC's dynasty aspirations.
Jonas Valanciunas commitment to Nuggets another blow for Thunder
After being traded to the Mile High City from Sacramento earlier this month, rumors started to circulate about big man Jonas Valanciunas and his presumed interest in returning to Europe and playing for Panathinaikos for the 2025-26 season rather than riding out the remaining two years left on his $30.2 million NBA contract.
Such rumblings came to the delight of Thunder fans, especially considering how much Denver already managed to improve their roster this summer even without the veteran center in tow.
Sadly, on Monday, Donatas Urbonas of Basketballnews.com crushed any hope that the Nuggets would actually suffer from this buzzed-about roadblock, as the Senior Staff Writer interviewed Valanciunas, who shut down any questions about his commitment to joining the roster of his new employer.
"I want to clear the air about my playing situation next season now that Denver has made their decision to keep me. The idea of playing for Panathinaikos, closer to home, was very exciting to me, but that will have to wait. I am fully committed to honoring my contract with the Nuggets this season and will give it my all to compete for a championship," Valanciunas said.
With this, not only does it cement the fact that the Nuggets will be adding a quality veteran role player who boasts solid career averages of 13.1 points and 9.3 rebounds, but it also gives Jokic easily the best understudy of his career.
An overall lack of depth was certainly a major problem for Denver last year, but it specifically took its toll when it came to the lack of backups they had readily available behind their superstar center.
With their only options being a beyond weathered DeAndre Jordan and an unplayable Dario Saric, it's no wonder that Jokic ranked fifth in the league in minutes per game (36.7) and that the club plummeted to a net rating of -9.3 with the big man off the floor.
Valanciunas publicly committing himself to stay in the association next season should bring confidence that better days are ahead for the Nuggets' frontcourt. At the same time, it may also mean that this already troublesome team is bound to become even more of a threat to the Thunder.