The Detroit Pistons need Jalen Duren but can't pay him the max after his playoff performance, which puts them in a tricky situation with the restricted free agent this summer.
How much the Pistons will offer Duren is the biggest question heading into the summer, and ESPN's Bobby Marks weighed in with what he considers the right contract for Duren, which is 5 years/$180 million.
This would put him just under Alperen Sengun a similarly talented but flawed young center, which seems fair for Duren at this stage in his career.
This is a number the Pistons could live with, as it puts him more in line with a starting NBA center, but not a second option on a max deal. It seems like a ton of money to us working class stiffs, but that's the going rate for an All-Star center in the NBA.
Duren was bad in the playoffs, and no one is more aware of it than him, which is why I have no doubt he'll put in the work to improve just like he did last year. He's also 22-years-old, so it's not as if another big leap is out of the question. It's a relatively safe bet for the Pistons at that price.
The Pistons also can't afford to lose Duren without a backup plan, as they already have other needs that are more pressing. If they can get a deal done at this number, they should, but there may be teams standing in the way.
The Pistons may not get off that cheaply
With several teams with cap space and need of a center, the Pistons may not be the only team bidding for Duren's services this summer. The Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers are a particular threats and could just put in a poison pill offer for Duren just to force the Pistons to match.
The problem with the 5/180 number is that another team could put in a bigger offer sheet, so the Pistons are in a tricky spot here and will lose all leverage if other teams get involved.
Duren's contract is the first real potentially franchise-altering decision that Trajan Langdon will have to make, as he needs to retain his center but do it at a reasonable number that is not an overpay.
It's going to be a tough balancing act as teams try to figure out which is the real Duren, the guy we saw in the regular season, who was an efficient double-double machine, or the guy we saw in the playoffs, who couldn't get off the bench in crunch time of a must-win game.
There are contract numbers the Pistons could live with and ones that would be a big leap of faith, so Detroit has to hope they can find the right balance with their big man.
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