Bucks should explore the Jalen Duren possibility

The Milwaukee Bucks are among the teams with reported interest in adding Detroit Pistons big man Jalen Duren, either via sign-and-trade in the near term or free agency next summer. Duren is fresh off making both All-Star and All-NBA teams this season at just 22 years old, but Milwaukee must be cautious in pursuing him.

Just like Peyton Watson prior to his sign-and-trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Duren is a restricted free agent, meaning Detroit has the right to match any offer sheet he signs with an outside suitor. Unlike that situation, it isn’t immediate second apron concerns stopping Detroit from giving Duren a new deal.

Negotiations seem to have broken down in assessing exactly how much Duren is worth annually. It’s easy to see the argument both sides continue to make. Duren’s camp points out the aforementioned accolades and his age and makes the simple case that a 22-year-old All-NBA player is worth a max contract (five years, $287 million) or close to it.

Detroit’s front office can then use Duren’s deeply disappointing postseason to poke holes in that valuation. Duren’s production and efficiency both dropped substantially in the playoffs, as he went from averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on 65% field goal shooting to putting up just 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds on 51.4% from the field.

The Pistons are right to have hesitation about paying for regular season results with a playoff track record that troubling. Detroit’s opponents schemed to take away the Cade Cunningham/Jalen Duren pick-and-roll and it worked to tremendous effect, leaving Duren a shell of his normally ferocious self across 14 games.

Duren is physical and great around the basket, but his skillset is currently too limited for him to thrive under the magnification that the NBA playoffs provide.

But the problem with being right, as anyone who’s been in a long-term relationship can tell you, is sometimes it’s not worth it. In history, a Pyrrhic victory is one that was so costly it equates to a defeat in the end anyway. That is the risk that NBA franchises run through negotiating so harshly in restricted free agency with young players.

If the reporting is accurate and Duren and his camp have turned down a fully-guaranteed $200 million contract, the bridge might really be burned between player and team. It’s an unfortunate reality of these prolonged restricted free agency negotiations: they often get nasty and lead to either immediate or delayed breakups.

Enter the Bucks, who don’t need another non-star center but do need as many swings at transformational talent as they can take. Playoff struggles likely won’t be a problem for anybody in Milwaukee this season, and Duren would not be the first young player to use bitter failure to iron out their own deficiencies.

Dec 6, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren (0) shoots defended by Milwaukee Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo (43) in the second half at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Risk Could Be Worth It

Duren doesn’t project to be a true franchise player, and the Bucks should make any sign-and-trade offers with that premise firmly in mind. Duren would be a great building block, but he’s not a cornerstone.

Milwaukee is in a position to take some financial risk here though, especially assuming Myles Turner is heading out as part of any move. Detroit needs a center if Duren is moved, and Turner’s floor spacing would be a big lift to a Pistons team that just financially committed to a non-spacer in Ausar Thompson.

Even if it took paying Duren $40 million annually, that’s barely $12 million more per season than Myles Turner is making over the next three years. The pertinent question then is less about what Duren is “worth” and more about if it’s worth slightly less cap flexibility to go from a 30-year-old center who’s never made an All-Star team to a 22-year-old big fresh off making both All-Star and All-NBA.

That’s just the financial cost of acquiring Jalen Duren for Milwaukee. The asset cost is another one to weigh, and the one that makes such a move unlikely, and impossible if not for this exact dire situation the Pistons find themselves in. If you’re Detroit, can you really risk Duren signing the qualifying offer, sulking through a season and then walking for nothing next summer?

The Bucks should not consider sending Ryan Rollins or significant draft pick capital to Detroit for Duren, with rookies Brayden Burries and Nate Ament obviously off-limits too. If any other players or some limited draft compensation like a protected pick or pick swap plus Turner is enough for the Pistons to be done with this mess, then great.

If not, the Bucks should be totally satisfied rolling into next season with Turner and Kel’el Ware as their center rotation. Ware is just intriguing enough of a center prospect to stop Milwaukee from pushing too many chips in for Duren, but not quite intriguing enough to stop the Bucks from adding a better young big for the right price.

As a rebuilding team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Bucks will probably have to either overpay in assets or contract dollars for players for a while. They should avoid doing both.

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