The Pistons keep losing leverage the longer they go without re-signing Jalen Duren, since Duren and his camp can bring forward more and more new arguments for raising his contract with each passing day. By giving in to some of Duren's demands and raising their offer over the offseason, the Pistons are only giving him more motivation to keep holding out.
We've already seen reports go from $180 million over 5 years to $200 million, which vindicates Duren for his drawn-out negotiation. Regardless of where things end up, Duren can be confident that he'll find a secure long-term contract with the Pistons that only seems to be getting better the longer these talks drag out.
The Pistons have slowly given Duren what he wants
Everyone in the Pistons fanbase and media has been extremely critical of Duren this offseason but the reality can't be denied. Just by refusing to sign an extension early, he's reportedly gotten the Pistons to increase their offer significantly. Logically, he will continue to hold out now until the last second to squeeze as much out of the team as possible.
Although the Pistons initially held firm in their stance of not offering too much to Duren, they've steadily backed off and are now at the point of offering him a $200 million contract, albeit with a controversial weight clause. Duren doesn't seem fully happy with what Detroit has brought to the table yet, but that could just be an act to maintain his leverage.
As long as the Pistons keep increasing their offers and Duren still has rebuilding teams to use as qualifying-offer threats, he has every reason to keep pushing the envelope. At this point, it's looking like the Pistons might have been better off either signing him to a larger deal early in the offseason or holding the line at their initial offer. Unfortunately, trying to meet him in the middle has only rewarded a longer holdout.
Duren could keep up his standoff until the last moment
The deadline for Duren to sign an extension is October 1st, so we might not see a resolution until right before that date. The Pistons' offer is lucrative enough that Duren would be foolish to decline it, but he might as well hold out to see if they will raise it any further.
In all likelihood, this strategy will pay off for Duren when he secures a huge contract. Regardless of how his actions this summer have affected his general perception or chemistry within the locker room, Duren got what he wanted: the biggest contract possible.
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