Jalen Duren had the best year of his young career this season, a huge reason why the Detroit Pistons won 60 games and earned the number one seed in the East. He was a walking 20 and 10 during the regular season, but his production was nearly cut in half during the playoffs.
Duren struggled to find his offense, he was subpar defensively, and was outplayed by Paul Reed for most of the postseason. All of his flaws came to light at the worst possible time, and just prior to a summer where he is looking for a max deal.
There has been speculation that the Pistons may not be willing to give Duren the full-scale max he is eligible for and that they could explore sign and trade scenarios for the All-NBA big man. However, Detroit has made their stance on Duren clear.
The Pistons are focused on retaining Duren on a long-term deal
NBA Insider Chris Haynes reported that Detroit is focused on keeping the big man around and are not exploring trade scenarios for him at this time.
It makes sense that the Pistons want to go this route, as Duren is only 22-years old, and is coming off an All-NBA and All-Star season. His playoff run was definitely concerning, but it can also be chalked up to what young players have to go through early on in their careers.
On top of that, Duren is very close to Cade Cunningham, who is the face of the franchise, and you can imagine that it won’t go over well with the superstar to see one of his close friends get traded. That also has to be taken into account here.
Also, the Pistons just traded away Isaiah Stewart to the Grizzlies, so if they were to move Duren, they would have a glaring lack of big man depth. It’s not like the market is littered with options at center and the perceived number one threat for Duren’s services, the Lakers, just locked up Austin Reaves to a max deal, and that was someone Detroit was interested in.
So now, Duren will likely return on a team-friendly deal, which would allow the Pistons to pursue meaningful upgrades around Cunningham on the perimeter. So, you all can clear the trade machine, and scrap those mock trades, because it is more likely than not that Duren will be back in Detroit for the long-term.
