There are always a million what-ifs in an NBA offseason, including this year around the contract negotiations between Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons.
There appears to be light at the end of a tunnel, and we are finally seeing some numbers emerge in rumors, but the Duren situation has dominated most of the Pistons’ offseason.
One of the biggest surprises of the offseason came early, when the Celtics unexpectedly and very suddenly traded MVP candidate Jaylen Brown to the 76ers for Paul George and picks.
It was a deal that materialized quickly, but if the Celtics had waited, things could have gone a whole lot differently.
Jalen Duren sign-and-trade for Jaylen Brown
There was some early talk about the Pistons potentially trading for Brown, but that didn’t last, as he was quickly traded in early July.
Insider Jake Fischer did add that Brown was the only realistic sign-and-trade option for the Pistons and Duren, and that Detroit hasn’t entertained any of the others.
That’s not to say a deal was ever close to happening, or even discussed, but Brown is the type of return that would make them consider moving on from their 22-year-old center.
At the point of the Brown trade, the Pistons were still in the infancy of their lengthy negotiation with Duren and had no inkling it would drag on this long or get this contentious.
I do think the last part is overblown, as any animosity will disappear as soon as that contract is signed and the players get back to business.
But since we are discussing hypotheticals, if Boston hadn’t traded Brown so early in the offseason (they were trying to avoid drama of their own), a sign-and-trade for Duren would have been more of a possibility.
The domino effect of the Jaylen Brown trade
The Brown trade may have shifted the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, as it not only gave Philly an All-NBA talent, but Brown was the primary reason they were able to land LeBron James.
Philly is now one of the favorites to win the East, and even if they don’t, they are much better positioned for the postseason.
The Celtics will probably still be good, but losing Brown will sting no matter how they try and sell it.
If the Pistons had traded for Brown instead, the Celtics might actually be better with Duren than they will be with Paul George, who is a walking injury.
LeBron James is probably headed somewhere other than Philly, and who knows, it might have been Cade Cunningham and the Pistons talking him into joining a superteam.
These are many of the permutations of this wild hypothetical that obviously ended as soon as Brown landed in Philly. It didn’t happen, but you do have to wonder if Boston and Detroit might have done things differently if they had all of the same information then that they do now.
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