There is reportedly still a sizeable gap between Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons on his next contract, and when you look around the league, it makes sense.
ESPN was the latest to report that the Pistons were offering a deal in the mid-30's while Duren is seeking something substantially larger and in line with extensions for his peers.
There have been four All-Stars from Duren’s draft class, with Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Paolo Banchero joining Duren, who made his first All-Star and All-NBA team last season.
The other three guys already have their max extensions in hand after signing early deals last summer, so Duren is probably wondering why he isn’t being rewarded as his peers have been.
The Pistons aren’t offering him even the 25 percent max and are nowhere near the 30 percent supermax he is eligible to get. The gap shows us what Detroit values, and it’s the area where Duren has lacked compared to the other All-Stars from his class.
Jalen Duren has not showed up in the playoffs
If Duren wants to know why those guys all got paid and he hasn’t, it’s because they all proved themselves in the playoffs.
Both Holmgren and Williams had already won a title with the Thunder before they got their extensions last summer, so they proved they can be key parts of a team winning at the highest level.
Even Paolo Banchero, who has had his ups and downs in the regular season, has been a monster in the playoffs, averaging 27 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in the playoffs for his career.
He was a big reason the Magic nearly pulled off the upset over the Pistons in the first round, as he averaged 26 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in the seven-game series.
Let’s compare that to Duren, who has averaged 10.7 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 20 playoff games. If you throw out the first playoff series loss against the Knicks, the numbers get even worse, which explains why there is a gap between Duren and his peers.
The Pistons have made the playoffs two years in a row and have one of the best players in the league in Cade Cunningham, so the measure of their success is no longer the regular season, it’s the playoffs.
The Pistons don’t value Duren quite as much as these other players because he has yet to show he can step up when it matters, which has to be the bar they use for now on if they want to maximize Cunningham’s window as a superstar.
Detroit is still offering Duren a lot of money, arguably more than they should, so he needs to realize that his playoff performance hurt his contract value, and he may have to accept less than his All-Star peers who have performed in the postseason.
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