{"id":505582,"date":"2026-07-13T12:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T10:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=505582"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:09:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T10:09:23","slug":"jonas-valanciunas-returns-to-europe-with-zalgiris-kaunas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/jonas-valanciunas-returns-to-europe-with-zalgiris-kaunas\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonas Valanciunas returns to Europe with Zalgiris Kaunas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jonas Valanciunas is returning to Europe. According to Jonas Leksas of Krepsinis.net, as reported by Eurohoops, the Lithuanian center has signed a two-year deal with Zalgiris Kaunas.<\/p>\n<p>Valanciunas was able to complete the move after clearing waivers from the Denver Nuggets. It closes a long NBA chapter that began in 2012 after his time with Lietuvos Rytas, Zalgiris\u2019 biggest rival.<\/p>\n<p>In the NBA, Valanciunas played for the Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets. His return to Lithuania now opens a new chapter in his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Lithuanian center leaves the NBA and joins his country\u2019s powerhouse on a two-year deal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":497574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[199,271],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-505582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-euroleague","category-lithuania"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jonas Valanciunas returns to Europe with Zalgiris Kaunas - 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