The Detroit Pistons will hold their media day today at 2:00 PM ET and the Jalen Duren contract dispute is guranteed to dominate the conversation.
Training camp starts tomorrow, so if Duren doesn't sign by then he won't be there, as he's not allowed to participate in team practices or events until he has a contract.
Media day was the deadline I originally said Duren needed to avoid lest things "get ugly," but we're long past that, with reports that Duren wasn't at all happy about the Pistons trying to slide a Zion Williamson-like weight clause into the latest deal.
I wonder what Trajan Langdon is going to get asked about? I'd say it won't be more than one question before that weight clause thing comes up.
To be honest, most media days are fairly boring affairs with canned answers about putting in work, how they gained 20 lbs of muscle (it's always 20 lbs) and the new moves that are going to elevate their game.
The Pistons media day will be the rare circus and the show has a chance to leak into the regular season.
The Jalen Duren drama is officially concerning
I've been trying to ignore this story, as I am sick of dissecting every detail of every report like a true crime podast when nothing has really changed.
The Pistons have put a large amount of money on the table, Duren wants more. Until he officially accepts the qualifying offer, I am still assuming that he's not going to turn down generational wealth when the risk of it never returning is very real.
I am also going to assume that if all it will take to get it done is the Pistons offering a bit more money or removing the weight clause, then they will.
But...
It's hard to imagine this ordeal not having some kind of negative effect on the Pistons the longer it lingers on. Duren only has until October 1st to accept the qualifying offer, so we'll get a resolution to this soon one way or another, but it doesn't appear Detroit will start training camp with one of their key players.
Even though I am sure they will pay lip service to support their teammate today, if Duren starts missing practices, this will eventually get annoying for his teammates, especially when Ausar Thompson pretty much just ran off the practice court, signed his deal and got back to work without much negotiation at all.
The good news is that it won't be a typical boring media day with players giving their robotic answers and it will be interesting to see where some of them come down when they are asked about Jalen Duren.
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