The Lakers have inserted themselves into one of the biggest developing stories in the hours leading up to free agency.
After setting themselves up to try to steal Austin Reaves in free agency, the Pistons appear to have lowballed their own free agent, Jalen Duren, leading to him meeting with other teams. Among the teams he’s set to talk to? The Lakers.
Earlier in the day on Monday, Sam Amick of The Athletic also reported that Duren and the Pistons were not close on a contract and that the big man would explore sign-and-trade scenarios, including meeting with the Kings.
All-NBA forward Jalen Duren was underwhelmed by the Detroit Pistons’ initial offer in restricted free agency and is planning to explore sign-and-trade scenarios when they are permitted on Tuesday, league sources told The Athletic.
It’s not hard to see why the two sides would be far apart in negotiations. During the regular season, Duren was one of the best big men in the league, earning Third Team All-NBA honors while averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game while shooting 65% from the field.
But once the playoffs rolled around, Duren became a shell of himself, averaging 10.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and shooting 51.4% from the field. He was a huge reason for an underwhelming postseason performance from the Pistons, as they needed seven games to beat the Magic before losing in seven games to Cleveland.
Detroit is likely negotiationg from a standpoint of his postseason performance while Duren and his agent are negotiating from the standpoint of his regular season performance. For now, that gap is big enough for Duren to look elsewhere.
Still, this is restricted free agency and Detroit still holds the power. Even in a sign-and-trade scenario, the Pistons are going to have to get value back as they can simply just match Duren’s offer sheet and bring him back.
But that things have gotten to this point is notable.
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