The Detroit Pistons have spent the opening days of training camp without Jalen Duren. But with the deadline for a contract decision from him rapidly approaching on Thursday, Oct. 1, the team could reunite with its All-NBA center soon.
The standoff between the Pistons and Duren, a restricted free agent, will likely resolve, in some fashion, by midnight on Friday. The 22-year-old has until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday to accept the $9.6 million qualifying offer – which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027 – or to agree to the Pistons' reported five-year extension offer worth $200 million.
Camp started Tuesday, and coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Duren's teammates have embraced a business-as-usual approach without him. Regardless of
which offer he signs, Bickerstaff said following Thursday's practice that the team will welcome him back and immediately get to work.
"It’s obviously difficult," Bickerstaff said. "The most difficult of our job is the business of basketball. It’s a part of it and it is what it is. You get both sides of what’s going on and how you handle it and all those things. What we try to do is build ourselves for the tough times.
"Our relationships aren’t fleeting and when JD comes back, he’s going to be welcomed with open arms and his teammates will do the same, and then be who he is. That’s the easy part for us is, we have real relationships. If you don’t, these things can get dicey. But if you have genuine relationships, you’ll be able to work it out."Duren's choices, at this stage, are few. He can take the extension and become the NBA's eighth-highest paid center. Or, he can take the qualifying offer and angle for a maximum contract in unrestricted free agency next summer. Duren will be eligible for a four-year contract worth up to $189 million next summer (according to ESPN's Bobby Marks) – which, combined with the qualifying offer this season, would equate to roughly $200 million over five years.
Either way, Duren's earning ceiling is the same. Taking the qualifying offer – and accepting the risk of turning down $190 million in guaranteed money today – would signal that his relationship with the Pistons has truly soured. But if it's about the money, the logical choice is to take $200 million guaranteed today, rather than risk injury and having to settle for a smaller contract a year from now.
Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said during Monday that, while the team doesn't know which way Duren will go, they will move forward with him this season, regardless.
"We’ve got plenty of time before opening night," Bickerstaff agreed Thursday. "I think we’ll do what’s right by him always, obviously, and if there’s time that’s needed for a ramp up we’ll give him that time for a ramp up. Again, we’ll see what he looks like when he gets here. But knowing JD, he’s working his tail off no matter where he is so that when he gets here he’ll be prepared for what we need him to do."
A third option exists for Duren – declining to sign the qualifying offer and also leaving the Pistons' extension offer unsigned. In other words: threatening to sit out the season. Because the qualifying offer is his lone source of leverage, there would be no mechanism available to entice the Pistons into offering more money if he lets Thursday's deadline pass. Additionally, Duren would become a restricted free agent again next summer if he goes unsigned through the entire 2026-27 season.
So one way or another, Duren's holdout will likely resolve by Friday. And if that happens, the team will be ready to move forward and leave behind the protracted negotiation with one of its top players.
"We have two years of a foundation with him," Bickerstaff said. "We’ve made minor tweaks here and there but identity-wise, foundation of who we are, it’s consistent. He knows two years of the reps, but still when you’ve been away from an entire summer, even the guys that are here now, nobody’s playing weak-side defense in summer. It takes a little bit of time to get that rhythm back, but we’ll get back to it."
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons ready to welcome Jalen Duren back – when deal is done
