The Nuggets are throwing yet another dart at the board, hoping it finally lands on an effective backup center.

The difference this time? Their new guy has been a starting center for most of his career.

Denver is trading Dario Saric to the Sacramento Kings for Jonas Valanciunas, a league source told The Denver Post on Tuesday morning. Valanciunas, 33, was a trade deadline consideration for the Nuggets as well in February, when he ultimately went from Washington to Sacramento.

Now the Lithuanian big man is on his way to Denver, where he’ll be paid a salary of $10.4 million next season and $10 million the year after. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

The Nuggets offloaded Saric’s $5.4 million salary in the deal, which was made possible by Monday’s trade of Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn for Cam Johnson. Shedding Porter’s contract and moving under the first tax apron allowed the Nuggets to take back more salary than they send out in trades.

They immediately took advantage of that flexibility with the Valanciunas acquisition. And as a result, their payroll is now expected to be hard-capped at the first apron ($195.945 million) — unless they can merge the two trades into one three-team deal with Sacramento and Brooklyn.

Only 13 of the Nuggets’ 15 roster spots are filled. They’re required to carry at least 14 players during the season, excluding two-way contracts. They still have access to at least a portion of the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception in free agency.

Saric, 31, exercised a player option in his contract earlier this month that would have made him the sixth-highest paid player on Denver’s 2025-26 roster, despite having appeared in only 16 games last season. When he signed for the taxpayer mid-level exception in 2024, the Nuggets hoped he would be an adequate backup center behind Nikola Jokic.

But that idea barely got off the ground. Saric struggled at both ends of the floor, causing Denver to quickly try other options with the second unit.

Valanciunas is a classic, old-school style of big man — a 6-foot-11, 265-pound interior presence. He’s durable — he missed only one regular-season game in the last two years — and has only recently transitioned into more of a bench role. Before last season, he had started 827 of his 856 career games in the NBA.

The fifth pick in the 2011 draft, Valanciunas has played for Toronto, Memphis, New Orleans, Washington and Sacramento. He averaged 10.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and two assists per game in 2024-25.

He joins a mostly young Denver bench that also features Bruce Brown, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett and DaRon Holmes II. Assuming the veteran plays most — if not all — of his minutes while Jokic is resting, he’ll have the least glamorous job on the roster.

The Nuggets had a 10.5 net rating with Jokic on the floor last season and a dismal minus-9.3 net rating without him. The year before, their net was 11.8 with Jokic and minus-8.6 while he was on the bench.

Nuggets, Hardaway agree to terms, source says

The Nuggets got rid of Porter and still might’ve found a way to increase their league-worst 3-point volume anyway.

Free agent guard Tim Hardaway Jr. agreed to a one-year veteran minimum contract with Denver, a league source told The Post. Hardaway, 33, is the team’s second acquisition of free agency, joining Brown.

Hardaway shot 36.8% from 3-point range last season on six attempts per game, while averaging 28 minutes for the Detroit Pistons.

He has also played for Dallas, New York and Atlanta over the course of a 12-year NBA career.

He’ll join Johnson among the Nuggets’ new floor-spacing ranks next season as they attempt to ease the burden on Jokic in the post. For two consecutive years since winning their first NBA championship, they have attempted the fewest 3-pointers in the league, and defenses have responded to their personnel by shrinking the paint against Jokic more frequently.

Hardaway’s father briefly played for the Nuggets in 2002, appearing in 14 games near the end of his Hall of Fame career.