The Golden State Warriors remain hopeful of signing veteran center Al Horford away from the Boston Celtics in free agency, but there's still no movement on the 5x All-Star over five days after the window opened.
Fortunately for the Warriors, one of the emerging threats to steal Horford away may take themselves out of the mix. That will be the case anyway if the Denver Nuggets have their way, with the franchise still pushing to keep veteran center Jonas Valancuinas in the NBA.
The Nuggets desperately want to keep Jonas Valancuinas
The Nuggets made a savvy move at the start of the week in trading former Warrior Dario Saric to the Sacramento Kings for Valancuinas, giving them the proven experienced big man they've long needed to backup 3x MVP Nikola Jokic.
However, that was quickly followed by reports that Valancuinas was exploring a move back to Europe, with the Lithuanian currently in Greece where has a three-year offer on the table from Panathinaikos.
The issue for Valancuinas is that he can't actually sign with Panathinaikos unless the Nuggets release him from his contract, with the 33-year-old set to make $10.4 million next season before a $10 million non-guaranteed deal in 2026-27.
There was a belief that Denver may accomodate that given it could give them access to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception to use in free agency, but that may not actually be the case as the franchise pushes to keep Valancuinas.
"The Nuggets are going ahead with their trade for Jonas Valančiūnas on Sunday and remain determined to keep the veteran big man they hope to install as their backup to Nikola Jokić … despite Valančiūnas’ offer from Greek giants Panathinaikos," NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Saturday.
While some may hope that the Nuggets actually lose Valancuinas to weaken a team that's looking increasingly formidable after their moves over the last week, it would probably be a positive for the Warriors if he were to remain in the NBA.
With the future of Valancuinas up in the air, there's already wide-spread speculation that Denver would turn their attention to Horford in free agency should they lose their latest trade acquisition.
The Nuggets would be able to provide a stronger financial offer to Horford, while they also present as a stronger contender than Golden State right now in the Western Conference. However, if they stand their ground and don't allow Valancuinas to leave, then suddenly the need for Horford dissipates.
The 39-year-old has also been linked with the Lakers and could still be considering retirement after 18 years in the league, but there's still a prevailing thought that Horford will eventually sign with the Warriors as a free agent.