Pistons restricted free agent center Jalen Duren will sign a five-year, $200 million contract to stay in Detroit, agent Chaffee Fields ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Link to Twitter).
Duren’s new contract is fully guaranteed, adds Charanya.
A source tells Sam Amick of The Athletic that the contract is for five years (Link to Twitter), without options or incentives.
Duren waited until the last minute to accept Detroit’s $200 million guaranteed offer, which Charagna said had been under consideration for the past two weeks (Link to Twitter). The Pistons reportedly included weight-related waivers in previous offers that ranged from $170 million to $190 million over five years for the Draft.
Duren had until 11:59 p.m. ET to accept his one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer and sign a five-year, $200 million deal. His new contract is worth slightly more than his projected salary ($198.8 million) over the next five years if he were to sign a QO and then sign a four-year deal with a contending team next summer.
According to Charanya, Duren was mulling his options leading up to the deadline and hoping for potential sign-and-trade scenarios to emerge, but the Pistons showed no interest in exploring those concepts throughout the offseason and stuck by their latest offer.
In the end, Duren decided that potentially risking $190 million to take his chance as an unrestricted free agent next year wasn’t worth it. Rival executives and other agents agree that Duren made a “smart decision.” tweets Jake Fisher of The Stein Line and Bleacher Report.
The 22-year-old big man is coming off his fourth season in which he averaged 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.8 blocks while shooting 65.0% from the field and 74.7% from the foul line in 70 regular season contests (28.2 minutes per game). Duren was named to his first All-Star Game and earned a spot on the All-NBA Third Team, making him eligible for a five-year, $287 million contract with Detroit (as opposed to the 25% maximum at $239.2 million over five years).
While Duren was productive during the regular season, a disappointing performance in the 2026 playoffs somewhat clouded his prospects. He averaged 10.2 ppg, 8.5 ppg, 2.1 ppg and 1.2 ppg while shooting 51.4% from the floor and 67.4% from the line in 14 postseason appearances (30.1 mpg). The top-seeded Pistons were eliminated in the second round by Cleveland.
The latter felt “disrespected,” by the way, the talks did happen, and his frustration stems in part from Detroit $20 million a year offer last fall when he was eligible for rookie scale expansion. His new contract doubles that number on an annual basis, even though it took more than three months of restricted free agency to reach an agreement.
The 13th pick in the 2022 draft, Duren averaged 11.5 ppg, 10.2 ppg, 2.1 ppg and 0.9 ppg in 206 regular season games (26.6 mpg) over the first three seasons through 2025/26. Duren also averaged 11.8 ppg, 10.7 ppg, 3.5 ppg and 1.7 ppg in six games (33.8 mpg) during the 2025 playoffs, when Detroit was eliminated in the first round by New York.
Still to come…
