The Detroit Pistons remain at a standstill with restricted free agent Jalen Duren, who is exploring his options with other teams.
Duren is taking a second meeting with the Lakers today, so the Pistons have real competition for his services even though there’s been nothing but talk and speculation thus far.
The Pistons are acting nonchalant about the whole thing, but with no apparent plan B, they need to get this deal finished or move on, as their offseason can't really progress until the Duren business is completed.
The Pistons are out of options
When Detroit traded Isaiah Stewart, myself and most others assumed that meant the Duren deal was all but signed.
After all, why would the Pistons make such an early trade (of a fan favorite no less) unless they already had most of their ducks in a row?
That clearly wasn’t the case, or this deal would already be signed, but that hasn’t happened, which tells me the Pistons leapt on the Beef Stew trade without being positive their starting center was on board.
It certainly hasn’t killed the deal, but the Pistons have lost some amount of leverage with Duren, as they don’t have any better options to pivot to at the moment. Duren’s agent can realistically ask them, “what else are you gonna do?” If the Pistons play too much hardball with their client’s money.
Jalen Duren isn’t going anywhere unless the Pistons want him to
Even though the Pistons did lose some leverage trading Stewart without a backup plan, they still hold most of the cards in this Duren saga regardless of what his agent might have you believe.
I’ve said this a million times, but fans act as if the Pistons are somehow bound to take one of these crappy sign-and-trade offers when they are not. Duren and his team can fly around seeking sign-and-trades all they want, but at the end of the day, it's up to the Pistons whether they want to accept it.
Detroit doesn’t have to take any deal and can match any contract Duren is offered. The Kings and Lakers don’t even have the cap space to make Duren a max offer, so the Pistons are smart to stand their ground and not give into a deal that could hurt them.
It was surprising that the Pistons made the Stewart trade so early in the process, but it may have been necessary to secure Isaiah Joe and move up in the draft, two things the Pistons were clearly eager to do.
But it did leave them in a vulnerable position with Duren, as they don’t want to head into the season with Paul Reed as their only center. The Pistons had all of the leverage heading into this, but they did give some of it away by trading from their center depth.
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