NBA Free Agency: Detroit Pistons Issued Clear Intentions With Jalen Duren During Post-Season Presser

At this point in the summer, the Detroit Pistons have already made the majority of their roster moves from year-to-year. After landing Ebuka Okorie and Ugonna Onyenso in the draft, parting ways with Tobias Harris, Isaiah Stewart, Marcus Sasser and Caris LeVert during the offseason and bringing in Isaiah Joe, John Collins, Taurean Prince and Gary Harris, the squad is going to look a lot different for the 2026-27 campaign. 

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The idea is that this group of players will provide more balance with better three-point shooting to surround Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, but the only hang up is that the Pistons still haven’t inked JD to a long-term deal. With Duren as a restricted free agent, the Pistons have all the leverage in this negotiating process, but they would have expected to have completed this deal already under ideal circumstances. In totality, the fact that Duren hasn’t signed a contract already underscores the truth that Detroit was not expecting a laborious deliberation when the season ended back in mid-May, and Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon said just as much.

”I have no doubt that we’ll help him put a plan together and he’ll attack it this summer just like he did last summer and he’ll come back a better player from his experience not only during the regular season but also in the postseason just like all of our guys will,” Langdon said. “So, we look forward to coming together with his representation, getting a deal done and him continuing to be a Piston.”

At the time, Langdon’s tag at the end about retaining Duren seemed to be so obvious that it took nobody by surprise. Duren is 22 years old and coming off his best season in the NBA by far, and the Pistons clearly appreciate the work he put in to reach that point. 

“First of all, JD had a fantastic season,” Langdon said. “All-Star, one of the biggest contributors to us being the number one seed, darn near 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. An incredible year, an incredible leap from last year to this year because of the work he put in last summer and his focus.”

Penny Hardaway: Jalen Duren ‘Wants To Win A Championship’ For Detroit PistonsThe Detroit Pistons still haven’t reached a long-term agreement with restricted free agent center Jalen Duren, and his college coach, Penny Hardaway, offered his thoughts on the situation

But during the playoffs, Duren’s nightly averages dropped to 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, a far cry from the numbers he was putting up each night in the regular season. So, that postseason tailspin did not put JD in the strongest negotiating position possible, and the other reality is that most teams in the NBA were over the cap before free agency even started, so the market was not saturated with organizations in need of adding a top-flight center for top-flight money. 

Duren is understandably looking to receive a major raise after finishing second in the league’s Most Improved Player award race last season, and Detroit has the money available to deliver such a payday. But as of right now, the timeline for that proverbial contract hinges on the price point that the Pistons are comfortable with since they have the most chips at stake.

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