Could Duren's Contract Drama Spill Onto the Court?

The big topic yesterday was that the standoff between the Detroit Pistons and Jalen Duran has come to an end.

It was a game of chicken, Grant, and Jalen Duran, uh, blinked.

The Pistons, uh, had their offer on the table, 5 years, $200 million.

I was told this offer was out there for a while.

Uh, Jalen Duran wanted more.

Jalen Duran wanted to be involved in a sign and trade.

I think a big part of Jalen Duran was ready to be done with the Detroit Pistons, to be honest.

Um, That his options kind of disappeared.

His, uh, his, his flexibility kind of disappeared and he had a choice.

Sign the one-year, $9.6 million dollar, uh, qualifying offer.

And become an unrestricted free agent next summer or sign the five-year $200 million do deal and give yourself financial security right now.

Uh, he chose to sign the $200 million deal.

I was not surprised by this one big grant because in the history of these types of contracts, maybe you have a better grasp of this than I do.

But nobody ever turns down the money.

Not when it's money like that.

Like I, I go back to remembering when Christas Porzingis was threatening the Knicks with, I'm gonna sign the qualifying offer.

And, and even when he went to Dallas, I was like, maybe I'll sign the qualifying offer.

He was never gonna sign the qualifying offer and didn't.

When you have an opportunity to guarantee yourself $40 million I don't care about the possibility that 12 months from now, you can recoup that money and you can sign with whatever team you want.

That's a possibility.

You could also blow out your ACL.

You could also continue to have a decline like Jalen Dun showed somewhat in the postseason.

Uh, so, you know, of all these like three outcomes, the contract, qualifying offer , not doing either, uh, this to me was always like, this gobbled up like 90% of the pie chart on what Jalen, Durham was gonna do.

So not surprised at all that he did it.

What was your reaction to, uh, Duran signing the long-term deal with Detroit?

I mean, a lot of this, the nightmare of all front offices is when things get publicized like this, because the minute it becomes public, and then it becomes toxic out there, because you can hide things, trust me, every front office has so much drama and tension, everything behind the scenes that they're dealing with every day, all season, and it just never gets out there, so you never have to worry about it in that regard.

For players, for agents, for all of this, there's nothing worse than when it gets out in the public, because the fans jump in and now anything.

thing that happens from here on out, the team loses, if Duran struggles or something like that, it's now into this huge thing where everyone's gonna have an opinion about it.

So, that's the worst thing that could have happened in this situation.

I do agree that I thought this is how it was gonna play out.

The fact that this weight clause in there was there and then removed and, you know, at that point, maybe that was part of this, of this negotiation being like, hey, like, if that's out there, if this contract's out there in this weight clause, I, I.

You know, at the end of the day, I think you're right in terms of very rarely do you see someone ever turn down something when it gets to those numbers.

When you're talking about making a contract proposal, we're dealing with, hey, one team's at $50 the other want 80, that's when things can get a little tricky.

I know it's crazy money, but that, that, that's different.

When you're talking about, hey, I want to make $43 million a year versus 40 million, that's where the difference is in terms of very rarely does a team turn this down or a player turn this down.

And for me, I'm looking at this, he's 22 , almost 23 years old.

He, after this contract's done, will be in the middle of his prime.

And so, if you do well, which he should, you know, he's a good player, then, you know, you're gonna get a really big contract after that, right?

So, at some point, you just gotta say, I'm gonna take all this guaranteed money right now.

I will, I guess, bet on myself that I'll do well in my contract.

And then, by the way, by the time that his contract's up, who knows where the salary cap, the 40 million could be the mid-level at that point, and then you're gonna get more.

So, I know I'm exaggerating, but the point is, uh, it, it, it worked out, it's done.

But Chris, I don't think the repercussions, we've seen them yet.

Because what ends up happening is with toxicity and things that get out there, and we don't know the relationship behind the scenes right now.

We don't know if the what the tension level is, but winning cures these things, playing well cures these things.

But what happens when this team gets off to a slow start, or something happens or an injury, and then there's some chemistry issues and blah blah blah.

Things can go south very quickly in this league.

So that's my concern personally, because, Chris, I'm gonna be honest with you.

I already thought Detroit, because they didn't add another score, because they didn't do this , wasn't, and the East got so much better this year.

I already had some thoughts that Detroit might take a little bit of a step back this year, just a little bit, and that's hard to do when you have this tension now in the room as well.

Yeah, I think the push to have a weight clause in the contract.

has the potential to linger even if there is no weight clause in the contract.

Because what Trajan Langdon and the Pistons have said is that Duran has a weight problem, a conditioning problem.

Like they have put that spotlight on him.

And people are gonna be monitoring that, I think, all throughout the season.

If he has a bad week, It's no longer just a bad week for basketball reasons.

Maybe it's a bad week for conditioning reasons.

And I don't think that the Pistons did themselves any favors by, I mean, Trajan specifically, who I think has done a good job, generally, uh, by referencing Zion.

Like he, he's the one that put Zion into the universe there saying I worked in New Orleans with a guy that went through.

Uh, contract stuff, uh, there, uh, you know, but that's, that's a nod and a wink to like, hey, Zion was fat, so we made him put a, a, a weight clause in that contract.

I, I, I wonder if that, how much that poisons the well.

And he's coming back to a locker room that doesn't have Isaiah Stewart, who was one of his closest friends.

That doesn't have Tobias Harris, who was a tremendous locker room unifier, a great locker room guy in addition to being like a thirteen-ish point per game scorer.

Like, I wonder, like can JB Bickerstaff smooth over any of the rough patches?

Can Cade Cunningham, who's been there every year with Durran, can he, um, ease any of the tension there?

I, I, I, I do wonder.

If there will be any lingering tension, and if that lingering tension will spill out onto the floor.

I think it's very worthwhile of a question, and I mean, how about this?

Like, again, the East was not very good last year.

It just, it truly wasn't.

They upgraded every team upgraded across the board, not every team, but most teams upgraded.

I don't know.

Did Detroit upgrade at all?

I, I love the addition of Isaiah Joe.

I love the addition and John, John Collins is like, he's fine, but I like John.

I think he's a good corner shooter, and I, I like John personally.

I, I, he's, he's a great dude, and I think he, he can bring some good stuff.

I think he's actually a little underrated at this point.

I think people have gone so far the other strike .

He's a good player.

He's a, he's a good player, but I mean, what I, I mean, they, they get Collins, but they lose Harrison Stewart.

Exactly.

I don't know exactly.

So let's say it's net even.

Maybe Asar gets a little better or something, but like.

A, you're banking on health again of Cade playing a full season and being good because he's the only person that's a real generator.

I know they can win, win games without him last season, but it's gonna be different this year.

Again, there's not tanking teams this year the same way.

The East is better, and, hey, I was there with NBC covering the first round of the playoffs, and I will be very direct about this.

If Franz Wagner doesn't get hurt, Orlando wins that series, first round.

They just do.

I, I, I, I was there for every game, it just, it didn't look right.

What was happening in Detroit and Durran was struggling as well, and Orlando is really kicking and firing.

And so my point is, is that if you're not getting better after that, you're hoping you're gonna get an internal growth, you're hoping that your players are developing a little bit better and better, and Durran is a huge, huge part of that.

So, if this, to your point, affects his play at all on the court or the team, then you're taking a huge hit to what you are counting on going into the season of development.

So, um, I do have some concerns.

I think the good news for them is they're a very talented team.

I think they have some great, Trajan's.

Really, he's a really smart guy.

He knows what he's doing.

It's just sometimes you just, you don't know how things will play out after it's all said and done.

And the fact that it got so public and ugly is just, it's just not a great thing.

Yeah, I mean, uh, if they had just stuck by their guns at $200 million is where we're going, I think they would have been fine.

I think $200 million is fair.

I mean, $40 million per year for Jalen Duran, who was exposed to a degree in the playoffs and who is, you know, a, a good rebounder inside the paint player but has not yet developed much beyond that.

Uh, I think the money's fair.

It's just how it kind of got messy with the other stuff.

I, I think that has the potential to linger.