Bill Simmons calls Jalen Duren contract situation 'impossible' for Pistons
· Yahoo Sports
Detroit Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon seems optimistic about signing center Jalen Duren to a long-term deal, but one prominent NBA analyst isn't as excited about the possibility.
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In an episode of The Ringer's "The Bill Simmons Podcast" released on Sunday, May 17, Simmons and NBA analyst Zach Lowe dissected Detroit's Game 7 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers and talked about how the Pistons went from getting the 1-seed to losing in the second round.
And when the conversation got to center Jalen Duren, Simmons lamented the position the Pistons are currently in regarding a potential nine-figure contract for their All-Star center.
"[The Pistons] have this impossible-to-figure-out Duren contract thing down," he said. "He just got outplayed by [Cavs center] Jarrett Allen, who makes $28-29 million a year, so you can't pay Duren more than that."
Duren is a restricted free agent heading into the 2026-27 season, meaning the Pistons can match any offer from another team and still keep him for the length of the contract. And for much of this past season, that didn't seem like it was going to be a problem, with Duren putting up 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game over 70 games while making his first-ever All-Star team.
But Duren's performance cratered in the postseason, with the fourth-year center scoring just 10.2 points per game over 14 playoff games, all of which he started. Duren often missed easy shot attempts, struggled to corral the ball on pass and rebound attempts, and generally performed far worse than his regular-season value would indicate.
And according to Simmons, that's not the type of player who would command a max deal, which could run the Pistons around $41 million per season.
"We've seen this in football, and we've seen it in basketball, where if you overpay somebody who's not a dominant guy, that's the quickest way to screw your team up for three, four years," he said.
Paying Duren his max value could present a difficult financial situation for the Pistons, who already have star Cade Cunningham's max deal on the books and another potential big deal with forward Ausar Thompson on the horizon. A mega deal with Duren could leave the Pistons unable to afford all three core players plus the secondary scorer many NBA analysts believe they need to compete.
For his part, Langdon sounded confident that Duren will improve and be back with the team next season when speaking at his end-of-season news conference on Tuesday, May 19.
"He'll come back a better player from his experience, not only during the regular season, but also in the postseason, just like all of our guys will," he said. "So we look forward to coming together with his representation, getting a deal done for him to continue to be a Piston."
Other teams in the market for Duren?
Lowe shares Langdon's optimism for Duren returning to the Pistons, saying the market for a player like him, especially after his poor playoff performance, probably won't be as robust as it could have been.
"The [Chicago] Bulls are the team with cap space that has the obvious hole at [center], but I just don't know that anyone is blowing Jalen Duren's market away with any kind of offer sheet," he said.
Simmons offered up the Los Angeles Lakers as another potential suitor for Duren, but Lowe believes Duren is at the "high end" of what the Lakers could afford for next season.
The Pistons can offer Duren a max deal up to five years and $239 million, while other teams can offer Duren a max of four years and $177.4 million for his services or about $44 million per year. But Simmons said he "wouldn't feel good" paying Duren more than $30 million a year, a figure that would would still make him the second-highest paid player on the team behind Cunningham (currently under a five-year, $269 million deal, just under $54 million per year).
And even Langdon, who gave Duren immense praise during his news conference, seemed willing to acknowledge Duren's playoff performance as a factor in the upcoming negotiations.
"We'll talk about all that, for sure," he said.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Bill Simmons thinks Pistons are in 'impossible' situation with Jalen Duren