The Detroit Pistons are still not planning to write up the divorce papers.
Detroit is “absolutely positively 100 percent” determined to keep restricted free agent center Jalen Duren, Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported this week on “The Hoop Collective.” MacMahon adds that the Pistons have made clear that any team intending to pursue Duren in a sign-and-trade is simply wasting their time.
Duren, the 22-year-old All-Star, remains unsigned nearly two full months into the official free agency period. That is despite virtually every other key RFA in the league (e.g. Peyton Watson, Bennedict Mathurin, etc.) having already had their respective situations get resolved by now.
A homegrown Piston who was the team’s lottery pick in 2022, Duren developed into a centerpiece of Detroit’s 60-win team last season. But the two sides still have yet to agreed to a number that satisfies everyone.
Last week, we learned that negotiations between Duren and the Pistons had turned “nasty.” Now there is less than a month left to go before training camp open, and the situation does not appear to be any closer to getting resolved.
Some recent reports have shed light on the new contract that Duren is ultimately expected to receive from Detroit. But even if the Pistons still fully intend to keep the All-NBA center, they have to make sure that they do not push Duren too far off the ledge to the point that he asks to move on from them instead.
