Is There Bad Blood Between Jalen Duren, Pistons Amid Contract Stalemate
ClutchPoints NBA Insiders Tomer Azarly and Brett Siegel discuss the latest on Jalen Duren and his contract negotiations with the Detroit Pistons.
Video Transcript
Concerned.
And the first one I wanna touch on is a guy that we haven't talked about in, in quite some time, probably the last big missing piece o- of this free agency class, and that's Jalen Duren.
You know, still, still remains in a, a restricted free agent with the Detroit Pistons.
No deal appears imminent at this time, although, you know, it would make sense for both of them to, you know, mend this before the season and, and, and get a deal done.
But one fan asked, "Is the floor for Jalen Duren a $160 million deal?"
I wouldn't say that's the floor.
Right, right now, that kinda seems to be the middle ground.
And, and we've been describing on this show over the last few weeks how the Pistons have not wanted to exceed $35 million in annual value, whereas Duren's team, they view him as a max level player.
Now, he's not gonna get a max contract.
They've come down on that asking price a little bit, but they wanna make more than $40 million annually.
They That's kinda the minimum that they think that they should take at this point.
So between 35 million and 45 to 50 million, can you find a common ground there?
That's where you get that $160 million number, a $40 million annual value for Jalen Duren.
So will that be the ultimate contract?
It's yet to be seen.
These team, the, these two sides took some time to themselves.
Jalen Duren and the Pistons were not negotiating in mid-August.
There was about a week and a half, two-week period where they were not talking to each other whatso- whatsoever.
Those conversations have since resumed.
Him, him and his management have been talking with the Pistons lately, and it does seem like that within the next 14 to 20 days or so, we're gonna get some contract details here, and I think that they're gonna reach a long-term agreement.
Because there's no sign and trade on the table, there's no teams that have the cap room to pursue Jalen Duren at this point.
He is going to be back with the Pistons, I would expect somewhere in that 150 to $170 million range on a new deal.
And so now the question becomes, well, if he does sign a long-term contract, is Jalen Duren's future ultimately with the Pistons?
And I think that's gonna be a big talking point for Detroit over the course of the '26, '27 season, because there's definitely some ill feelings here between the two sides.
Jalen Duren and his camp have felt insulted this entire process, even before other teams could talk with them, and that's why they took those meetings with the Sacramento Kings, with the Los Angeles Lakers, and some other teams.
He wanted out.
The Pistons were not willing to do that, and now it seems like they're gonna reach a long-term conclusion to this.
But whether or not he actually stays in Detroit through that contract, that's gonna be the big question mark.
This is a team that, you know, there's, there's not much money out there, not many teams who are willing to, to, to, you know, create room for a guy like Jalen Duren during this free agency class, and the Pistons don't really have any avenues to, to replace him right now.
So, an, an agreement of some kind, just h- just seems like the, the, the most obvious answer here.
And, and like you mentioned, whether they move him down the line, give him a long-term deal, and start to gauge other teams', trade interest in him, that, that will be determined.
And again, this is a guy who had a, an, an all-NBA year.
And if he struggles out of the gate or doesn't come out, you know, playing as well as he had last year, I think the Pistons kinda shocked everyone last year with how they played.
You know, could we see that value go down a little bit with, with that big contract that he gets, assuming he gets that, that, that multi-year deal?
So we'll see what happens there with Jalen Duren.
Still remains a restricted free agent-
