The Detroit Pistons were unable to come to an agreement on an extension with Jalen Duren over the summer, a failure that is going to cost them.
There were no reports about what the Pistons actually offered, and some even said that offer never came, as the Pistons had no intention of committing to Duren until they saw him have the breakout season he is currently having.
It was a risk for both Duren and the Pistons, as the former could have cost himself generational wealth had he faltered or plateaued, and the Pistons were risking that they’d have to pay him a lot more if he had a big season, which is what is happening now.
Duren reportedly wanted 30+ million a year over five years, a cost that seemed high for a guy who hadn’t proven he was anything more than a rebounder and lob threat, but after Duren has expanded his offensive bag and improved on defense, that number is certainly going up.
Vince Goodwill of ESPN projects that Duren will get somewhere in the range of the 5 years/$185 million that Alperen Sengun got from the Rockets, putting him in the upper tier of pay for young centers.
Sengun had his breakout the year before and Duren is now putting up similar numbers, though Sengun is a much-better playmaker and shooter at this stage of his career.
A raise is certainly coming for Duren, but how much depends on him.
Jalen Duren has to be more consistently dominant
Jalen Duren has had a few games this season that were eye-opening and made you think you were watching one of the best centers in the game.
But he’s still learning how to pick his spots to dominate games and does have the propensity to disappear at times when defenses try to take him out of the offense.
Without a go-to post move or much of a jumper (though both are getting better), Duren is fairly easy to gameplan for, as you know he wants to roll to the rim looking for dunks and to run the floor seeking the same.
Duren is one of the few centers left in the game who can physically dominate just about everyone he goes against, so he just needs to tap into that more often, which he has for most of the season.
Duren doesn’t have to score 25 a night, but he has to cut out those 8-point duds like he had in the recent loss to Milwaukee, when he was unable to exploit the gaps in the Bucks zone defense.
Given how dominant he is on the offensive boards and around the rim, there is no way he should ever be scoring in single digits.
If we are comparing him to Sengun for salary purposes, Alperen is scoring 23 points per game and hasn’t had any games this season when he failed to score in double digits. He’s also shooting over 38 percent from 3-point range, while Duren hasn’t even attempted a 3-pointer in a game.
These are things the Pistons will likely bring up in negotiations, but the way things are going, the Pistons’ patience waiting for Duren is likely going to cost them significantly in the offseason.