Jonas Valančiūnas

For as long as inside-the-arc scoring can be blended by both powerful, brute-force buckets and finesse, soft-touch finishes alike, there will seemingly always be a place for Jonas Valančiūnas’ steady game. Finding both luck and a last-effort contest working in his favor on Jayson Tatum’s missed pull-up, Valančiūnas — through a guard’s speed, and a veteran’s intuition — races the floor ahead of the Boston Celtics for a potential fastbreak demonstration. Opting for power upon recognizing Derrick White, one of the NBA’s all-time great chasedown block artists, quickly arriving on-scene, Valančiūnas muscles in a jam, his first-ever bucket in the Washington Wizards’ threads. The Wizards would fall in a 20-point defeat on October 24, 2024, though Valančiūnas, utilizing the repertoire that made him a 13-year NBA talent, recorded 18 points (on 8-of-13 shooting), five rebounds, and two assists.