Jalen Duren Makes $200M Decision, But Pistons 'Need to Repair Relationship'

In the end, despite the hard feelings, All-Star center Jalen Duren just couldn't bring himself to leave $200 million on the table. Pretty astute business decision, we'd say. He accepted the Detroit Pistons' five-year, $200M offer to re-sign as a restricted free agent, rather than take a $9.6M qualifying offer to play out the season.  

But now comes the hard part: The Pistons and Duren "need to repair their relationship", as Sam Amick noted in The Athletic writes. 

It took the Pistons four months to come up to the number that Duren was looking for, and along the way, things were said and done that made him feel "disrespected" by the team. Yes, we know, it's a strange thing to still feel "disrespected" when you're offered $200 million. But that's where we are. 

The summer-long stalemate between Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons was about more than the money, with the actions of both parties revealing much about the dysfunctional dynamic that made this all so messy... If Detroit is going to evolve into a legitimate title contender, building off of the 60-win season that ended in such disappointing fashion for Duren and the Pistons in the playoffs, this relationship will still need mending.

As Amick rightfully adds, "One might think $200 million is enough to soothe even the harshest feelings," but apparently, in the NBA, that's not necessarily the case. 

Owner Tom Gores, per reports, sent a "meaningful message" to Duren earlier on Decision Day on Thursday that, "played a pivotal part in his decision," writes Amick.

"Gores made a promise to Duren and his family that he would help provide a more positive Pistons experience."

Among the issues that caused acrimony between the two sides, per sources, was that the Pistons questioned Duren's work ethic, which "inspired questions about his commitment to conditioning in Pistons circles." That would be why they put a weight clause in one of the recent offers (which was later removed), which angered Duren further.

Additionally, Duren's massive drop-off in performance in the playoffs gave the Pistons pause and "made Detroit wary of going anywhere near his max ($287 million)."

Rival teams didn't share Pistons' reluctance in offering Duren the max

But looking deeper, it was discovered that rival teams did not have these issues with Duren, and several were prepared to offer him the max if he had chosen the $9.6M QO and went to unrestricted free agency next July 1. 

"The gap between that viewpoint and the Pistons’ stance had everything to do with the tension in the talks," Amick wrote. 

But with a renewed commitment by both sides, perhaps the repairing of their relationship is under way.