The Pistons’ stance on Jalen Duren has been pretty straightforward: they don’t want to move him, and recent reporting says the idea of a sign-and-trade has been “nixed” entirely.
That line came up on a recent episode of Brian Windhorst & the Hoop Collective, which backed up earlier reports that Detroit wasn’t seriously entertaining offers for the 22-year-old All-NBA center. Windhorst also noted that a “number of teams” would have interest if Duren were ever made available. The problem for the Pistons is that once you actually run through the possible destinations, the list gets ugly fast.
There isn’t a clean path here because no team has the cap room to sign Duren outright. Any move would have to go through a sign-and-trade, and that means Detroit would need meaningful value coming back. So far, that value hasn’t exactly jumped off the page.
The Lakers were once seen as a possible threat, but they found a cheaper route by landing Walker Kessler, which takes them out of the picture.
That leaves the Kings, Nets and a few other possibilities, and none of them are especially tempting for Detroit.
Sacramento has been the most connected team to Duren, with the Kings reportedly trying to push Domantas Sabonis toward the Pistons in discussions. Detroit, unsurprisingly, had no interest in a center who doesn’t play defense and doesn’t fit especially well next to the team’s superstar.
The Kings would probably be happy to do the deal and might even be willing to give Duren the max contract he wants, but they’ve spent years trying to move Sabonis without success. If Sacramento has been unable to unload him, there’s no obvious reason Detroit should be eager to take him on.
Brooklyn is another team to watch because the Nets need a center and could use Duren alongside their young core. They also have trade pieces such as Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. to send back.
But each option comes with a catch. Randle is not a great fit with Cade, while MPJ brings a bigger expiring contract and the expectation of an extension Detroit would not want to hand out.
MPJ makes more sense on the floor, but either player would create a major problem for the Pistons.
If Detroit dealt Duren and got either one back, the center depth chart would suddenly be thin. Paul Reed and Tolu Smith would be the only options left at the position, and there would be no obvious backup plan this late in the offseason.
Milwaukee has also been mentioned as a team that could be hunting for a young splash in its post-Giannis rebuild. A swap involving Myles Turner has been floated, and if the Bucks were willing to include Ryan Rollins, that would at least make things interesting. Without that kind of extra piece, though, the Pistons would just be taking on an older center who wasn’t especially effective last season, even if he can still stretch the floor.
For Detroit, the market simply doesn’t offer a clean win. Unless something unexpected appears, keeping Duren makes more sense than creating another problem and hoping the return somehow improves the roster.
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