The Detroit Pistons have inked a core player to a contract extension. They have one significant piece of business remaining this offseason – ending the contract standoff with Jalen Duren.
Ausar Thompson on Friday, Sept. 18, agreed to a five-year extension worth $155 million with no options, the Free Press confirmed. The deal secures Thompson's future through the 2031-32 season.
Attention now turns to Duren, a restricted free agent who has until Oct. 1 to accept his qualifying offer – a one-year contract worth $9.6 million that would allow him to enter unrestricted free agency in 2027. Media day is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 28, and Pistons training camp opens a day later.
The 22-year-old Duren is eligible for a five-year extension worth up to
$287 million after reaching supermax eligibility by making third-team All-NBA last season. A breakout 2025-26 increased Duren’s earning potential, but a weak market – following an anemic performance by Duren in the playoffs – enabled the Pistons to offer a contract well short of that figure.
The qualifying offer is his lone source of leverage as he tries to extract a bigger offer from the Pistons, who remain committed to signing him to a long-term contract, and have signaled all offseason they’re not interested in exploring sign-and-trade scenarios.
The standoff ends one of two ways – either Duren accepts the Pistons’ offer and secures his future in Detroit, or he takes the nuclear option by turning down a nine-figure contract to determine his own future next summer – which might not even surpass the Pistons' current offer. Next year's max for Duren is four years and a projected $189 million for a player with his experience level (six years or less) signing with a new team. The Pistons have reportedly offered around $190 million over five years ($38 million per year).
Why Jalen Duren and Pistons remain apart in contract talks
After failing to reach an extension agreement with the Pistons last summer, Duren entered the season with something to prove. He averaged a career-best 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on 65% shooting, co-starring with Cade Cunningham on the most successful Pistons team in nearly two decades.
Duren was a critical part of the franchise's third-ever 60-win campaign. The Pistons repeatedly have signaled retaining Duren is a priority, and they view him as one of their core three players, along with Cunningham and Thompson.
The existence of the second tax apron – which basically shuts down transactions for teams above it – within the NBA's salary cap system agreed to in 2023 under the Collective Bargaining Agreement has forced teams to become more judicious about their spending.
That includes the Pistons, though they have one of the league's smallest cap numbers. Cunningham is entering the second year of a five-year contract worth $269 million. Thompson, coming off a first-team All-Defensive selection, currently will be their second-highest paid player when his extension starts in 2027-28 (Duren's new figure, should he sign an extension, should surpass Thompson's).
Duren’s breakout regular season was followed by a virtual disappearance in the playoffs, when he averaged just 10.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks on 51.4% shooting through 14 games. A market in restricted free agency has yet to materialize, and the Pistons have the right to match any outside offer. No team has the space to give Duren the maximum, which is capped at $177.4 million total over four years for outside teams.
The Pistons, thus, have drawn their line in the sand. The only mechanic that can force their hand is the threat of the qualifying offer, which would require Duren to turn down $170 million-plus in guaranteed money for a chance to pursue a bigger contract with a different team – and leave the Pistons with nothing in return for a then-23-year-old All-NBA player – next summer should he walk.
Why standoff likely will resolve by training camp
The Pistons and Duren have the option of pushing the deadline for him to decide on the qualifying offer as late as March 1. But there’s little incentive for the Pistons to allow negotiations to go into the season, or for Duren to remain unsigned.
Whether a deal is for one season or several, they will put ink to paper.
Now that it’s mid-September, urgency to get a deal across the finish line will increase as camp approaches. It has been a long, drawn-out process and hope remains for the Pistons that they will find a contract number that satisfies their salary cap boundaries while still delivering Duren the substantial raise he has earned.
The clock is ticking louder.
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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: Is Pistons' Jalen Duren offer affected by Ausar Thompson contract?
