Jalen Duren’s next contract has become one of the uglier storylines hanging over Detroit’s offseason.
NBA insider Tim MacMahon said on The Hoop Collective podcast that the Pistons’ talks with the restricted free agent have gone sideways, and he didn’t sugarcoat it. “The biggest question I’ve got about the Pistons is like what’s going to be the lingering cloud when this whole Jalen Duren situation gets finalized or at least temporarily settled?”
MacMahon said. “Is he going to sign an extension?
Well, I don’t know. But this has been a awfully nasty negotiation.
“And so I’ve got real concerns there,” MacMahon continued. “Because I understand they believe Ausar Thompson is their second-best player, but Jalen Duren was an All-NBA player for him last year.
He was a massive factor in them winning 60 games. You can certainly criticize the playoff performance, but he was a massive factor in them winning 60 games.”
That tension makes sense when you look at the numbers from Duren’s regular season and postseason. In 2025-26, the 22-year-old averaged 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks while helping Detroit to a 60-22 record and the No. 1 seed in the East. He also earned All-NBA Third Team honors.
The playoffs told a different story. Duren, the No. 13 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, dipped to 10.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game.
In the first round against the Orlando Magic, Wendell Carter Jr. arguably got the better of him, and Duren’s struggles helped put Detroit in a 3-1 hole before an injury to Franz Wagner changed the series. The Pistons survived in seven.
Detroit then needed seven more games to get past the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but Duren had a quiet series there too. Facing Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, he averaged 9.9 points and 7.6 rebounds as the Pistons fell in seven.
Now the financial standoff is the real issue. Duren is reportedly looking for a five-year, $287 million max extension, and the Pistons are not eager to meet that price after the postseason they just watched. MacMahon also noted that Detroit views Ausar Thompson, not Duren, as the team’s second-best player behind Cade Cunningham.
“I don’t really have a great feel for kind of his temperament or anything like that, but sometimes these negotiations when they’re ugly like this can have consequences,” MacMahon said.
He pointed to Deandre Ayton’s rocky negotiations with the Phoenix Suns as the kind of situation that can leave scars. The Suns eventually matched the offer sheet Ayton received from the Indiana Pacers in 2022, but the relationship never recovered, and he was dealt in 2023.
Detroit reportedly does not want to explore a sign-and-trade with Duren, either. That was how the Peyton Watson situation finally got resolved, but MacMahon said this one won’t end that way.
If there’s no long-term deal, Duren could take the one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer and reach unrestricted free agency in 2027.
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Pistons Suddenly Face A Jalen Duren Decision They Can't Avoid
Jalen Durens contract situation has become one of the more delicate items on Detroits front burner, with the Pistons navigating what comes next for a young center who matters to their long-term plans. As a restricted free agent after the 2025-26 season, Duren gives the team some control for now, but the sides are already headed toward a negotiation that could test how far Detroit is willing to go to keep him in place.
The Pistons have shown reluctance to move on from Duren, and for good reason, but the risk in these situations is always the same: if the talks stall enough, the player can gain leverage in ways the team would rather avoid. Detroit still has paths to work through the mess, including the possibility of a sign-and-trade if things ever reach that point, but the real pressure comes from making sure the conversation never gets close to a qualifying-offer standoff. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Duren Just Added Pressure To A Pistons Decision Still Looming
Jalen Duren got a hometown celebration in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, where the community honored him with a day in his name and a street renamed for him. It was the kind of public reminder that Duren has become more than just a promising young big man for the Pistons, especially after a season in which he averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game and kept pushing his value higher.
For Detroit, the timing matters because the contract conversation is still open and the price tag remains substantial, with Duren eligible for a five-year, $287 million max extension. There have been reports of the Pistons moving toward a middle-ground offer, but no agreement is in place yet, and every new bit of recognition for Duren only adds to the urgency of figuring out where this ends. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Durens Playoff Slide May Have Cost Him At Worst Time
The way a young player handles a playoff injury can echo well beyond the spring, and Jalen Duren is finding that out the hard way. Peyton Watsons camp took the cautious route in Denver, keeping him out of the Nuggets postseason run because of a hamstring issue and protecting his long-term earning power. Duren took the opposite path, playing through Detroits postseason with the idea that competing when it mattered could help strengthen his case as a cornerstone big man.
Instead, the postseason has turned into one more variable in a restricted free agency process that has already become complicated. For the Pistons, the question is no longer just what Duren has shown at his best, but how much weight to give the playoff stretch when evaluating him against the broader market for young centers. In a summer where every detail matters, that kind of late-series slide can change the tone of negotiations in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]