Why Jalen Duren was reportedly called '4th-best player' in Pistons contract talks
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Why Jalen Duren was reportedly called '4th-best player' in Pistons contract talks originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Jalen Duren's path to $200 million this NBA offseason was anything but straightforward.
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As the last lingering member of the restricted free-agent class, even skipping Pistons media day, Detroit's star center eventually landed a lucrative five-year extension — but it took months of stalemates in negotiations to get there.
Based on various reports, Duren didn't take the Pistons' side of the negotiations very kindly. Not only did the team reportedly try to include a "weight clause" with concerns about the center's size, but based on ESPN's Friday report, the Pistons indicated to Duren that they didn't believe he's even a top-3 player on their team.
Here's what to know about the latest wrinkle revealed in Duren's dramatic contract negotiations this past offseason.
Why Jalen Duren was called '4th-best player' by Pistons
If anything was clear during the negotiations between Duren and the Pistons, it's that things were not on good terms between the center and his team. With Duren considering taking a qualifying offer for the 2026-27 season so he could hit free agency again next summer, he held out from Pistons media day while remaining an unrestricted free agent.
Eventually, the sides agreed to a five-year, $200 million extension, and they'll be putting their differences in the past. But there were multiple reports about approaches the Pistons took to negotiations that Duren did not take kindly.
First, the Pistons reportedly included a "weight clause" in initial offers, arguing that the team would have to monitor Duren's weight despite no previous indications that it was a concern.
Now, on Friday, ESPN's Vince Goodwill reported that the Pistons even indicated to Duren that he "was the team's fourth-best player."
"Perhaps said in a way to illustrate how far he'd fallen in the playoffs, perhaps the cold part of negotiations," Goodwill wrote of the negotiations.
That nugget comes after Duren was named an All-Star for the first time in 2025-26, a significant reason the Pistons won 60 games and claimed the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed. He did, however, then struggle in the playoffs, dropping from 19.5 to 10.2 points per game.
"Last season was some of my highest moments in my career and some of my lowest," Duren said after signing his extension, per ESPN. "I'm willing to acknowledge that. And I'm willing to turn that frustration and that anger and whatever I felt toward my play and how things may have ended, I've learned instead of exerting my energy in being mad, exerting my energy into bettering my craft."
While it's clear that Cade Cunningham is the star of the franchise, Duren's breakout season put him in position to arguably be the No. 2 option for Detroit. Yet, according to Goodwill, the Pistons didn't see it that way during contract talks.
Regardless, it's all history now for the Pistons, who can begin their new season knowing Duren is locked in for the long term.
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