After a summer of drama, Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons have agreed to stay together, but scars remain and will need to heal.
Just a couple of hours before the qualifying offer deadline at 11:59 ET on Oct. 1, Duren agreed to a five-year, $200 million contract extension to stay in Detroit, reported Shams Charania of ESPN and NBA insider Chris Haynes. This was the deal the Pistons reportedly had on the table for about a week and is a straight five years, with no team or player options, and is fully guaranteed.
Duren is coming off a breakout season where he averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game and served as the Pistons’ defensive anchor in the paint, and with that he was both an All-Star and All-NBA player. Because he made an All-NBA team, Duren was eligible for up to five years, $287 million. However, the 22-year-old center cost himself a lot of money when he struggled on both ends of the court during the playoffs — he averaged 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, had a negative plus/minus, and by the end of the series against the Cavaliers was losing minutes to backup center Paul Reed.
Combine that with the Pistons looking at how the luxury tax aprons are hitting other top teams, and they wanted to keep Duren well below his max. It led to a long summer of drama as the sides were not close and Duren felt disrespected. Detroit started the summer lowballing Duren with an offer in the low- to mid-$30 million-a-year range, which was tough negotiating by Detroit in a summer when other, less proven centers were getting paid. Duren’s ultimate leverage is taking the $9.6 million qualifying offer, and the fact he dragged this out until just a couple of hours before the deadline of that offer going away showed how seriously he considered it. Detroit was just as serious about keeping him, rebuffing calls about potential sign-and-trade offers.
It may have taken most of the summer, but eventually the Pistons got to a five-year, $200 million offer (and took a ridiculous weight clause off the table). Duren eventually signed the deal.
Now Duren is reunited with Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson on a Pistons team that won 60 games last season and wants to take a step forward this season. The Pistons — who also signed Thompson to a five-year, $155 million contract extension this summer — have locked up their core. Now that core has to prove it can take the next step forward.
