As the months dragged on through the tight free agency stall between Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons, a sensible question began to arise: did Duren even want to stay with the only NBA team he’s ever known?
It is said that Duarenus had made a contempt of the baker’s offerings, and felt that he was greatly offended. ESPN noted that “fractures built within the backstage relationship in the restricted free agent trade” and that Duren passed away mid-day and the start of camp “is hoping for a sign and a potential trade.” In the end, though, Duren chose to accept Detroit’s final, increased offer of $200 million over five years.
On Sunday, Duren spoke to the media for the first time since the start of the freelance work. The questions just persisted even after he signed up. Duren becomes trade-eligible on January 15th, and with teams like the Sacramento Kings reportedly open to giving him a full max offer to the Pistons last year, the potential for a trade down the line is still there. If it should happen, however, Durenius indicated that it would not be by his choice.
“I can give a very clear message today: I am a Detroit Piston and I want to be a Piston for life,” Duren said in a press conference. He retracted the report, saying: “Nothing was done by me. Everything that was heard was speculation.”
Finally, the NBA is a business. Detroit’s Duren contract presented something of a historical anomaly. As Nate Duncan noted, of the last 35 players to make the All-Star Team on their first contract, 34 of them were on their second max contract. Duarenus is an outlier, and from what he was capable of, he didn’t even come close. As an All-NBA player, Duren could make up to $287 million in this contract through the Derrick Rose Rule.
It’s very rare that young, All-NBA players are denied the status quo, so it’s hardly surprising that Duren felt slighted by the lesser offers the Pistons put in front of him. But especially in light of the league’s offers, it seems likely that he could have gotten a free agent next summer. These deals, during the four-year limitation of foreign suitors, the minors of the annual institution available to those teams and well below the qualified market salary Duren needed to receive for a year to be there, in the end he would be paid less than what Detroit finally offered, but there would have been no question of the respect in which they would pay him the maximum allowable amount.
Detroit, meanwhile, was struggling with the new financial world of the NBA. The 2023 CBA, through halftime and some other rule changes, created a much smaller cap release environment. Get one contract wrong and the damage can cascade across the rest of your total. Duren’s time ended in the middle of April, but he still won the common. But he also finished heavily in the lineup, raising questions about his long-term viability as one of Detroit’s corners.
“It was humbling to end the season,” Duren said on Sunday. “I need to get better. I looked in the mirror and realized I need to do better. I’m a person who’s good enough to recognize my flaws and get my ass in the gym and get better.”
The onus will be on Duren to correct the season’s issues as far as they are concerned. There are also roster issues that Baker needs to consider. Two of Detroit’s three biggest players — Duren and Ausar Thompson — are complete non-threats from 3-point range. Both signed five-year deals this offseason. The two may not be offensively compatible at a time when there is a need for personal space.
If Detroit was to be trusted, it would be a more serious sign of what-ifs this offseason. This baker wants to go another way. If another playoff run or two proves that the numbers mean changes, Detroit can make them a line. For now, their priority was keeping all twenty years of NBA play in the building. It took some heated treatment, but, with the dust settled, all parties involved seem to be ready and trying to make up for one last spring disappointment.