Jalen Duren still doesn’t have a new deal, but the real issue for the Pistons may not be the size of the contract so much as the way it’s structured.
Even as September winds down, the expectation here is that Duren eventually signs with Detroit. The stakes are obvious on both sides: Duren would be leaving a massive guaranteed payday on the table, while the Pistons would be heading toward preseason without a center if this drags on much longer.
The best guess remains a five-year contract worth at least $190 million, with $195 million the number to watch. But for Detroit, the key question is when that money is paid out.
The argument for the Pistons is simple: front load the deal.
If Duren is getting a contract in the $200 million neighborhood, there’s no way to make that kind of commitment safe. He’s 22, which helps, but every long-term deal carries the same basic risks - regression, a plateau, or injury. Detroit can’t erase that danger, but it can reduce it by paying more up front and letting the contract decline over time.
That matters because of what’s coming next for the roster. A five-year Duren deal would overlap with Cade Cunningham’s next contract, and Cunningham is widely expected to land a supermax that pays him somewhere in the $60-70 million per year range. That’s where the squeeze really starts.
A descending Duren contract would give the Pistons more breathing room as Cunningham’s number rises. It would also make Duren easier to move later if Detroit ever decided that was necessary, since the money would get lighter instead of heavier.
Kyle Kuzma is the cleanest example of how that can work. His four-year, $90 million deal looked rough right away, but because the salary drops each year, it became more manageable.
The Wizards were still able to trade him, and the ugliest parts of the contract had already been paid out. What once looked like a bad deal is less intimidating now that Kuzma is set to make $20 million next season, which is 12 percent of the salary cap instead of 18 percent at the start of the contract.
Duren is a different case, of course. He should still be improving over the life of his next deal. But if Detroit can get him on a front-loaded, declining contract, it would soften the blow of Cunningham’s supermax and leave the Pistons with a more movable asset if the future forces their hand.
In Other News...
Former Pistons Pick Just Revived A Frustrating Troy Weaver Debate
Saddiq Beys latest contract now gives the old Troy Weaver debate a fresh jolt. After a career-best season, Bey landed a three-year extension with the New Orleans Pelicans, a reminder of how quickly a former Pistons draft pick can become part of a bigger conversation about value, patience and whether the right pieces were ever in place in Detroit.
For Pistons fans, the wrinkle is hard to miss because Weaver is in New Orleans now, still operating in the same circles that shaped Beys NBA journey. Bey has shown enough to earn real money, but he still hasnt fully answered the postseason question, which leaves his development tied to the same uncomfortable argument that followed him out of Detroit: was he undervalued, or just not the kind of player a rebuilding team could fully maximize? [Read more 🡒]
Nets Face A Big Michael Porter Jr. Question In Trade Talk
Detroits biggest contract storyline right now is Jalen Duren, and the lack of a deal still leaves plenty of room for outside speculation. The Pistons are negotiating with their restricted free agent center, whose growth has made him one of the key pieces of their next step, and the uncertainty around his new contract has naturally opened the door to all kinds of roster chatter.
One hypothetical construction has Brooklyn trying to solve its own frontcourt question by prying Duren loose in a sign-and-trade, while Detroit would be weighing whether the return is worth moving on. The idea is built around the kind of deal that can reshape both teams timelines, but until something concrete emerges, it remains just that, a framework for how much leverage and intrigue still surround Durens next contract. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Still Have One Playoff Problem Cade Can't Fix Alone
The Pistons spent the offseason trying to make life easier for Cade Cunningham by adding shooting and giving the offense more space to breathe. Even so, the bigger question around this group is whether there will be enough dribble penetration and shot creation when defenses load up on Cunningham, especially after the loss of Tobias Harris leaves Detroit thinner in the spots that matter most in a playoff setting.
So much of the conversation now turns to internal growth, with Daniss Jenkins, Ausar Thompson and Kevin Huerter among the players asked to do more than they have before. If that group can help stabilize the half-court offense, Detroits ceiling rises with it. If not, the Pistons could find themselves looking for another answer before the season is done, because spacing alone will not solve a postseason offense that still needs more than one reliable engine. [Read more 🡒]