It’s truly not an exaggeration: Jonas Valanciunas is the most-accomplished player in the history of the NBA’s play-in tournament.
To be fair to all the past greats, it only began in 2020. And there’s also the fact that a player has to be on just mediocre enough of a team to not just get a top-six seed and begin in the actual playoff field.
But Valanciunas has been around for all of it. He’s taken part in the play-in every year since its inception, and that’ll continue in 2025 with the Kings.
All told, Valanciunas has played eight play-in games and compiled a 5-3 record across them.
Here’s the full Valanciunas stat breakdown year by year from the play-in, with time playing for the Grizzlies and then the Pelicans:
- Aug. 15, 2020: 22 points, 17 rebounds in 126-122 loss to Portland
- May 19, 2021: 23 points, 23 rebounds in 100-96 win over San Antonio
- May 21, 2021: 9 points, 12 rebounds in 117-112 win over Golden State
- April 13, 2022: 22 points, 14 rebounds in 113-103 win over San Antonio
- April 15, 2022: 8 points, 9 rebounds in 105-101 win over Clippers
- April 12, 2023: 16 points, 18 rebounds in 123-118 loss to Oklahoma City
- April 16, 2024: 4 points, 10 rebounds in 110-106 loss to Lakers
- April 19, 2024: 19 points, 12 rebounds in 105-98 win over Sacramento
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Those averages work out to 15.4 points and 14.4 rebounds per game.
Valanciunas has more points and rebounds than anyone in play-in tournament history.
Ironically, these are the only stats that don’t actually count in an NBA player’s record. They aren’t playoff games or regular season games, officially. If not for great online box score access, it’d be as if the games never happened.
But Valanciunas would certainly tell you they do. It’s an annual tradition on the big Lituanian’s calendar at this point: Get to the play-in, grab a lot of rebounds, score some points and hopefully extend the season.
There’s nobody like Jonas Valanciunas in the NBA’s newest postseason format, and there may never be.
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