The Pistons can still get Jalen Duren back, but that alone won’t clean up what has been a messy summer in Detroit.
For a team that finished last season as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the offseason has landed with a thud. The Pistons were pushed to the brink in back-to-back seven-game series against the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers, and then the rest of the summer never really delivered the kind of jolt that would make that ending feel like the start of something bigger.
Duren sits at the center of it all. He remains a key part of Detroit’s future, and last season he was an All-Star and an All-NBA Third Team selection.
But the playoffs changed the conversation. JB Bickerstaff even had to turn to Paul Reed over Duren at times, a sign of just how rough things got for him when it mattered most.
That has made the contract situation feel heavier than a normal negotiation. Even if the Pistons eventually bring him back, the relationship does not sound like one that can be wiped clean overnight. There are still going to be some lingering feelings.
And Duren is only one piece of a broader problem. Detroit did not make the kind of big trade or aggressive swing that can reset a summer.
Around the league, especially in the East, plenty of teams made major roster changes or took clear steps forward. The Pistons did not match that pace.
They also lost Tobias Harris in free agency, and he was arguably their second-best player in the playoffs. Detroit replaced him with John Collins, but Collins comes with a track record that has been all over the place in terms of overall impact.
Isaiah Joe could turn into a sneaky good pickup, but he is still unproven in the role Detroit may eventually need him to fill.
Internal growth can still help this team. It almost certainly will. But even if Duren comes back, that won’t erase how underwhelming the rest of the summer has been for a club that was sitting on top of the conference not long ago.
At the end of the day, the Pistons simply did not do enough.
In Other News...
Jalen Duren's Pistons Standoff Just Became Impossible To Ignore
Mid-September is an uncomfortable place for a negotiation to be sitting, especially when it involves a 22-year-old who made both the All-Star and All-NBA teams last season. Jalen Duren remains without a new deal from Detroit, and the Pistons have been firm enough to believe they have already put forward a fair offer based on what they see as his current market value.
The hold-up has become notable because Duren is not just any restricted free agent lingering on the board. He is the most decorated player to still be unsigned this late, and the sides do not appear to be operating from the same place on what his resume should be worth. Detroit has plenty of reason to admire the ceiling, but enough questions around his playoff performance and the context of those honors to keep this from moving like a straightforward payday. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons May Need To Settle One Ausar Thompson Question Early
The Pistons are looking at Ausar Thompsons next contract with a little more urgency than usual, and for good reason. Detroit would like to get an early extension done if it can, both to reward one of its core young pieces and to avoid letting the situation drift into the kind of restricted free agency mess that can hang over a roster for months.
Thompson still has the kind of appeal that could draw attention around the league, especially with several teams expected to have cap space next summer. But that market can shrink fast, and once it does, the player loses a lot of leverage. For Detroit, the question is whether it makes sense to move now and settle the framework early, or risk letting the process stretch into a tougher negotiation later. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Are Hearing The Same Doubts Again And Cade Changes It
The Pistons did not make the kind of splashy offseason moves that tend to quiet the national skeptics, and that has put them right back in the familiar spot of having to answer questions before the season even starts. Bleacher Report was among the outlets pointing to Detroit as a team that may have taken a step back, a familiar refrain for a franchise trying to turn continuity into momentum and expectations into something more durable.
Cade Cunningham is the reason the conversation around Detroit never stays entirely pessimistic for long. The East has a wide range of plausible outcomes behind the top tier, with several rosters still carrying obvious uncertainty, and that leaves room for the Pistons to press their case as a playoff team rather than another club lumped into the crowded middle. If Detroit is going to change the tone around it, Cunningham is still the player who makes that possible. [Read more 🡒]