The Detroit Pistons have already been thrown into the fire when it comes to Jalen Duren. But the Los Angeles Lakers’ trade for Walker Kessler – and ensuing signing – puts them in an even worse spot. Kessler is going to make roughly $32.5 in average annual value, and Duren will almost certainly want more than that, which would be a pretty rough contract.
Duren was an All-Star last year. An All-NBA Third Team player. A guy who clearly believes he deserves close to a max contract, if not a full-on max contract. He will almost certainly want more than Kessler, who barely even played last season for the Utah Jazz because of an injury.
That’s going to be a tough situation for the Pistons to deal with.
Walker Kessler could be benchmark for Jalen Duren contract
Obviously, Duren is a restricted free agent this summer. The Pistons can match any offer that comes his way, even if some team out there does end up offering him a max deal.
However, the Pistons are in a very interesting spot as a team. They can’t really afford to be overpaying players. They need to get this summer right if they want to give Cade Cunningham the best possible chance at winning an NBA Championship.
Paying Duren a monster contract would significantly restrict the Pistons’ ability to make future moves. And based on the way things have been going this summer, clearly, they don’t want to overpay him.
Now, Duren has the Kessler contract to look at. He can look at it and ask teams around the league for more than that. Kessler’s deal could be a baseline for Duren to work with.
He wants to be paid like an All-NBA player, and an All-NBA player would probably want more money than a guy who has never even been an All-Star. Duren can use the Kessler contract as a benchmark.
‘That’s how much he got? I want more than that.’ That’s what Kessler can say to other teams around the league who could be interested in handing him an offer sheet in restricted free agency.
And at that point, if the Pistons have to match an offer sheet that is worth that much money or more, things could get dicey. Detroit very clearly doesn’t want to pay him a ton of money, and now, they may either have to or let him walk.
Kessler’s contract is a tough benchmark for the Pistons to have to deal with.
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