Bucks Ready & Willing To Do Sign-and-Trade Deal With Pistons
The Jalen Duren stalemate continues to drag on in Detroit, even after the Pistons came up to the player's stated minimum contract requirement, $200 million (over five years). Still, Duren has not accepted.
It appears that the relationship is so frayed at this point after a summer of contentious negotiations that Duren wants to move on. To do that, there are only two options: Convince the Pistons to make a sign-and-trade deal to send him elsewhere (which they really don't want to do), or simply take the $9.6M qualifying offer, which would get him to unrestricted free agency next summer.
It's a $190M gamble for Duren, and while that's the threat his camp is making, it's hard to see him going through with that kind of gamble. He has until Oct. 1st to accept that QO.
But if a sign-and-trade is in the offing, we already know about the Sacramento Kings' interest, and the big man they'd be willing to send back. But the Milwaukee Bucks are also interested in making it happen, and paying Duren the max-type deal he's looking for. In return, they could send center Myles Turner to Detroit.
Myles Turner would be a piece that would fit in well with the Pistons with the way that he plays. He's a rim protector, he's a stretch big man, he would pair really well with Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson and others on that roster. The only problem is, Turner is in his 30s, and we saw what happened last season with one of the worst of his career.
Siegel goes on to mention another couple of targets in Milwaukee that Detroit could target if Turner doesn't float their boat. Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. come to mind, though neither of them would fill the void at center that would be left by trading Duren. Herro was a name that the Pistons were interested in when he was still with the Miami Heat.
In the end, Siegel still feels Duren will still begin the season with the Pistons, but finds it "hard to believe" that he'll start the 2027-28 season in Detroit.