The list of teams watching Jalen Duren’s contract standoff with the Detroit Pistons is growing. Turning that interest into a trade would be considerably harder.
An NBA general manager identified the Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards as teams interested in Duren, Andscape’s Marc J. Spears said Monday on ESPN’s “NBA Today.” Sacramento and Milwaukee had already been linked to the 22-year-old center. Atlanta and Washington are new names in a dispute approaching a Thursday deadline.
Spears also said a source close to the Pistons remains optimistic Duren will sign a long-term contract. Detroit has maintained that it wants him back and, according to ESPN, has rejected sign-and-trade proposals.
A Duren Trade Would Face a Salary-Matching Problem
Washington’s inclusion led host Jorge Sedano to float Anthony Davis as part of a hypothetical deal. Spears acknowledged that Davis’ salary gave the panel something to examine. Both treated it as speculation. They did not report that Davis had been offered, that Detroit wanted him or that the teams were negotiating.
There is also a salary rule that makes a straightforward swap unlikely. If the over-the-cap Pistons sign and trade Duren on a new contract, his outgoing salary for Detroit’s trade matching would generally be the greater of his previous salary or 50% of the new deal’s first-year salary. His full new salary would count as incoming salary for the team acquiring him.
For example, if Duren’s deal began at $40 million, he would count as $20 million going out for Detroit and $40 million coming in for the other team. Those different figures complicate any attempt to bring back a player on a much larger contract. A workable Davis deal would need more than a comparison of the two players’ salaries.
None of that matters unless the Pistons decide to negotiate a trade. Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said at media day Monday that he would welcome Duren back regardless of the contract he chooses.
“I have not spoken to the young man all summer,” Langdon said. He declined to discuss negotiations but called Duren a major part of Detroit’s success.
Thursday’s Decision Still Comes First for Pistons
Duren has declined the Pistons’ reported five-year, $200 million fully guaranteed offer. His representatives have told the team the standoff is no longer simply about money, ESPN reported. He missed media day and the start of camp while the sides remained apart.
Spears said Duren has not explicitly requested a trade, though he believes the center has conveyed his unhappiness. That leaves interest from four teams in its proper place: It gives Detroit possible callers, but it does not establish a deal or change the Pistons’ stated preference to keep him.
Duren can accept his one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer by Thursday under the current deadline. That would put him on a path to unrestricted free agency next summer. A long-term agreement would settle the immediate contract question.
The Pistons have three days to find out which route Duren takes. Only then may they learn whether those interested teams have a realistic opening.
Jalen Duren Draws Interest From 4 Teams as Pistons Standoff Reaches Deadline Week