The calendar has flipped to September, and the Detroit Pistons still haven't agreed to a new contract with Jalen Duren. As ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported on Tuesday, the team has offered a deal worth an average of $35 million annually, but the center wants more than $40 million. It's not reassuring that the two sides are still apart in their negotiations, but NBA insider Jake Fischer believes they can reach a resolution.
On a Bleacher Report stream, Fischer said:
"To me, from my vantage point, if the Pistons are already offering five-180, and Jalen Duren wants 40, or north of 40, then somewhere in the middle — four-160 — is in the ballpark, to me, of something that is plausible. I don't think we're too far apart to get to that."
At the start of free agency, when Duren was unhappy with how negotiations had gone, he met with other teams, like the Lakers. The Pistons maintained that they didn't want to engage (subscription required) in sign-and-trade talks with other teams and that, if one submitted an offer sheet, they would match it.
They don't want to lose Duren, and they certainly don't want him to accept his $9.6 million qualifying offer, either, as that'd set him up to be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
There is still hope for Duren and the Pistons
Though Detroit and Duren still aren't seeing eye to eye on contract numbers, they can meet somewhere in the middle, as Fischer said, with a deal that could look like $160 million over four years, averaging $40 million annually.
That's not the five-year, $180 million deal that Detroit has on the table right now, but giving Duren a four-year, $160 million contract would still be a win.
Duren's coming off the best season of his young career, averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, helping the Pistons finish as the top team in the conference, even with Cade Cunningham missing time at the end of the year. Although his numbers dipped in the postseason, that doesn't accurately reflect the player he is. He's still just 22, and already has an All-NBA third-team selection and All-Star honor under his belt.
Detroit has done a 180 in recent seasons, going from the league's worst team to one of the best, and its young core, led by Cunningham, is driving that change. Losing Duren at this point in his career would chip away at the momentum that the Pistons have been building.
Detroit entered the offseason wanting to lock the center down to a long-term deal, but of course, one that made sense for the team. Something in the range of $160 million across four years would do that.
And maybe Duren could walk away from the saga feeling a little better knowing he still got an average annual value of $40 million, though the Pistons would still have some work to do in terms of mending that relationship. It'd be a good start, at least.
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