One of the longest restricted free agent sagas in NBA history has officially come to a close. With roughly 90 minutes left before the qualifying offer deadline on Thursday, Jalen Duren agreed to sign a five-year, $200 million extension with the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night that will keep the All-Star big man in place through the 2030-31 season. Duren will now report to training camp after missing media day and the first few days of practice.
So, now that the three-month staring contest between the two sides is over, how did each side do? Below, we'll grade the deal for both Duren and the Pistons. Duren, by virtue of making an All-NBA Team last season, was eligible for a Rose Rule max starting at 30% of the cap that would have paid him $287 million in total.
There was a time in NBA history in which such a contract for an accomplished 22-year-old would have been automatic. Duren seemingly spent most of this offseason feeling as though he deserved one. Realistically, we're just not in that world anymore.
Teams negotiate harder now than they used to. Had Duren thrived in the postseason and perhaps helped the Pistons reach even the conference finals, he might have had a case for a max or close-to-max deal. A lot of that was out of his contract.
Playoff game-planning is harder on players with overt weaknesses, and opposing teams took advantage of Ausar Thompson's complete inability to shoot to essentially not guard him and take away Duren's bread-and-butter action: his pick-and-roll with Cade Cunningham. But Duren's scoring wasn't the only area of his game that was affected. His defense and rebounding declined as well.
He wasn't the same player he'd been all season. He scored only 12 more points in the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers than third-string center Paul Reed, despite playing three times as many minutes. Duren bears some responsibility here.
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