Michael Scotto: There’s a sense Jonas Valanciunas won’t return as a Pelican this offseason in free agency, I’m told. Valanciunas essentially split center minutes with Larry Nance Jr. this season and was benched often to close games. When Zion is healthy and playing, Valanciunas occupies the paint and clogs driving lanes for Zion. While he’s still a double-double threat, he’s not an ideal fit for this roster, and his near double-double production will likely be more valued by other teams on the unrestricted free-agent market. Will Guillory: I’d be pretty surprised if he was back because of how they were treating his spot in the rotation late in the season. There were a few times when they didn’t play him in the second half and prioritized having space around Zion, and I think they’ll want that in a center of the future next to Zion moving forward. There are a lot of valuable traits Valanciunas brings. He shows up every night and played all 82 games and was a really good paint scorer in games where Zion didn’t play.
Source: HoopsHype