‘Still A Gap’ Between Pistons, RFA Jalen Duren

The Pistons are offering Duren a five-year contract worth roughly $35MM annually, league sources tell MacMahon. That would work out to approximately $175MM over five seasons, which comes in a little below the five-year, $185MM rookie scale extension that went into effect for Rockets big man Alperen Sengun last season.

Although a $35MM average annual salary would fall shy of what Sengun and a handful of other centers – including Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Domantas Sabonis – are earning, it would put Duren above big men like Myles Turner ($27.2MM per year), Jarrett Allen ($30.2MM), and fellow 2026 RFA Walker Kessler ($32.4MM).

However, according to MacMahon, Duren and his camp are seeking a deal that exceeds $40MM per year. That would still be below the standard maximum salary for a player coming off his rookie scale contract ($239.2MM over five years, or $47.8MM per season), and it would well below Duren’s true maximum ($287MM over five years). The Pistons center is eligible for the higher max, starting at 30% of this year’s cap instead of 25%, because he made the All-NBA third team as a result of his breakout 2025/26 performance.

Duren increased his scoring average to 19.5 points per game last season while averaging double-digit rebounds (10.5 RPG) for the third consecutive year. He earned his first All-Star nod and was widely regarded as the second-best player on a 60-win squad. However, he averaged just 10.2 PPG and 8.5 RPG in the postseason and occasionally found himself sitting in favor of reserve big man Paul Reed during clutch minutes.

Duren’s strong regular season followed by an underwhelming playoff showing has complicated his restricted free agency, as has the fact that there are no rival suitors in position to sign him to an offer sheet that the Pistons would think twice about matching. One Western Conference executive who spoke to MacMahon said he thinks both sides are justified in their respective stances, though a rival Eastern Conference exec disagreed.

“(Duren) and his agent aren’t being realistic,” that executive told ESPN. “They’re anchored to the max-type offer. But $35 million is not a discount. It’s a lot of money.”

As MacMahon observes, the Pistons are also simultaneously negotiating a potential rookie scale extension for All-Defensive first-teamer Ausar Thompson, who will require a significant financial commitment too. The team’s goal is to secure both Duren and Thompson to long-term deals while maintaining enough flexibility to continue making roster upgrades going forward.

“The Pistons have got to manage their books the right way,” one prominent agent who is not involved in the negotiations told ESPN. “They feel (Duren) should be rewarded. They have their concerns, but he’s their guy. To me, the right money is in the mid-to-high 30s (per year). I think that’s the range, and I think this is just a staring contest that will end up in that area.”

If Duren remains unhappy with the Pistons’ offers, he’d have the option of accepting his one-year, $9.6MM qualifying offer and trying to secure a bigger payday as an unrestricted free agent next summer. However, that’d be a risky path to take, with no guarantee he’d make up the guaranteed money that’s currently on the table for him.

“If you’re Duren’s agent, are you really going to turn down $35-38 million (per year)?” that same agent said to MacMahon. “I wouldn’t screw around with it.”

As Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press writes, it’s a safe bet that Duren’s restricted free agency will wrap up at some point this month, since the deadline for him to sign his qualifying offer is October 1.

A year ago, the four restricted free agents still on the market as of September 1 all officially signed new contracts before the end of the month. That group was comprised of Cam Thomas (Sept. 4), Josh Giddey (Sept. 24), Quentin Grimes (Sept. 30), and Jonathan Kuminga (Sept. 30).