10 NBA players in need of a trade in 2017-18

4. Jonas Valanciunas

In just his second season in the league, Jonas Valanciunas put up 11.3 points and 8.8 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game and the future seemed bright. Little did we know that over the next four seasons, his production would plateau…or that he had already reached his career-high in minutes:

• 2013-14:  11.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 28.2 MPG
• 2014-15:  12.0 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 26.2 MPG
• 2015-16:  12.8 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 26.0 MPG
• 2016-17:  12.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 25.8 MPG

Two things can explain the phenomenon of this young player never really getting better. The first is the emergence of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, who still dominate the Toronto Raptors‘ offense. Despite being pegged as a future cornerstone at the time, JV’s field goal attempts only rose from 8.3 per game in 2013-14 to a career-high 8.9 per game in 2015-16.

The other is the direction the NBA game is heading in general. Valanciunas is an efficient scorer around the basket, but he’s never added an effective mid-range jumper to his repertoire, let alone a 3-point shot. That limits his offensive upside in a league that’s going smaller and smaller.

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On the defensive end, JV has always been a plodding, old school big who offers very little rim protection, but with teams putting stretch-4s and stretch-5s on the floor now, there’s often no place for him during a playoff series. His status as a defensive liability is worse now than it’s ever been.

It’s no surprise the Raptors have already tried to move Valanciunas, since he doesn’t seem motivated to improve and his upside has become limited at age 25. Would there be interest from another team in a bruising center without range whose role in this league is slipping away? Perhaps. Greg Monroe has reinvented himself as a sixth man in Milwaukee, but Monroe also operates from the elbow as a passer — skills JV doesn’t possess.

After watching JV come off the bench for stretches in the playoffs, it’s clear that as long as Lowry and DeRozan are in town, and as long as the Raptors have playoff aspirations in a pace-and-space league, Valanciunas might be better off somewhere else.