Detroit Pistons’ training camp will start in 30 days, and the team still hasn’t signed their starting center Jalen Duren.
It appeared there was some movement last week when numbers started to leak, which is usually the first sign of a deal, but here we are, one day before September, and there is no deal in sight.
Jalen Duren is now the last restricted free agent in the NBA that hasn’t signed a deal, with many of his contemporaries (most recently Bennedict Mathurin) having to settle for much lower, short-term contracts.
Training camp starts on September 29, and though I have been downplaying the effect this holdout will have on Duren, there are concerns that this drama is going to linger.
How will the standoff affect Jalen Duren in the early season?
I’ve been blowing off concerns that this contract negotiation would somehow follow Duren into the regular season, but now that we are entering September and he still doesn’t have a deal, the situation is getting more concerning.
Last summer, Duren spent the entirety working out with teammate Cade Cunningham and building bonds with the rest of the team by traveling around. Duren was rewarded with a big breakout season, so it’s understandable that he wants the work he put in to pay off.
You do have to wonder how Duren is spending this offseason. We know he’s putting in work one way or another, but he’s not doing it with his teammates, and is probably angrily working out in a gym somewhere wondering why he still doesn’t have a contract.
He’s eventually going to get one and this whole this whole thing will end, and I am sure Duren will pay lip service to being a pro, understanding it’s a business and not having any hard feelings, but he’s also a human, so I have a hard time believing this isn’t going to linger in some way.
Ideally, Duren will sign soon so he can have a month before training camp to shake off the ill will that these types of negotiations can cause.
But if this goes on for another week or two, we are getting into serious territory that makes is more likely that Duren chooses the nuclear option and accepts the qualifying offer, which would be a disaster for the Pistons, especially since these talks have dominated the entire offseason and they don’t have a plan B.
Duren is the final restricted free agent with less than a month to go before training camp, and as the clock continues to tick, it gets more concerning that the effects of this negotiation will hang over the season.
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