Jalen Duren made the All-NBA team for the Detroit Pistons last season, an award that led to headaches this summer.
The two sides are still far apart on negotiations (you can read my commie rant here), as Duren is eligible for far more money after making both the All-Star and All-NBA teams last season. Those awards come with a bump in max salary, so I am sure Duren was thinking max deal when he heard his name called.
And you can’t blame him.
The Pistons didn’t even offer an early extension last offseason, which turned out to be a mistake, and instead told Duren to go out and prove it to them. All he did was double his scoring and make All-NBA, so if I’m Duren, I am looking at the Pistons and thinking, “ok, I did what you asked, now pay me.”
I’m sure the Pistons are happy that Duren improved, but probably not that he snuck onto the All-NBA team, as it made him eligible for more money than his realistic market value and has led to this staring contest.
The All-NBA rules screwed the Pistons on the Jalen Duren contract
The thing about Duren’s All-NBA selection is that he should have never been there.
Duren had a great season, though not one that would have normally granted him All-NBA honors, but because of the new eligibility rules, Duren ended up making the team.
You had players like Anthony Edwards and LeBron James, two mainstays on the All-NBA teams, who did not play the 65 games required to be eligible. If Edwards played four more games last season, Duren wouldn’t be on the team.
LeBron missed the cut by six games, otherwise, he would have been there instead of Duren, who was likely the last name added to the third team.
Devin Booker missed All-NBA eligibility by one game, and then you had two legends in Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo who weren’t eligible and almost certainly would have been included.
It took a lot of poor health for Jalen Duren to squeak his way onto the team, and I guarantee you that the Pistons front office groaned when he made it, as it has helped lead to all of this drama.
In a normal season, Duren would have been rewarded handsomely (and fairly) for his breakout year, but by tacking a couple of default awards onto his name, he’s suddenly in max contract territory where he has no business being.
You can’t blame Duren for wanting to cash in on his success, and you can’t blame the Pistons for looking at his awards skeptically and not factoring them into his next payday.
This is why there is no end to the Duren saga in sight.
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