The Detroit Pistons recently signed Ausar Thompson to a five-year extension, which leaves just one player on the team’s agenda
Up to this point, Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon has been broadly chided for his preference to run the organization in a pragmatic, exceedingly careful sense. Doubling back to the most recent trade deadline, Langdon appeared to have an opportunity to take a swing for a reliable, impactful secondary scorer to use alongside Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, but the Pistons settled for a marginal deal by for Kevin Huerter at that point.
Huerter suffered an injury at the start of the postseason, so he essentially was a non-contributor during the playoffs, and Duren hit a similarly-stunting brick wall of productivity. Duren’s scoring output was cut in half, and the Pistons looked a tad bit unprepared for how the game would slow down and tighten up after their successful 60-win regular season campaign.
But on the other hand, Langdon’s predisposition to make strategic moves without handicapping the franchise could give the Pistons a decided advantage in terms of roster construction for the future. Although Detroit could be considered somewhat stingy in their handling of Duren’s restricted free agency, there is a very real chance that the Pistons can coax JD to sign a five-year deal in the ballpark of $190 million.
According to Duren and his team, that number falls well short of the deal they had in mind after his 19.5 point, 10.5 rebound per game performance last season, which earned him a place on the All-NBA Third Team. Because Duren was selected to that squad, he’s eligible for a supermax deal from the Pistons, which would clock in at five years and $287.1. Now, as the Pistons have proven already this summer, that type of deal is not going to happen.
But if they’re able to sign Duren for roughly the same length but for $190 million, then Detroit was able to secure both a 22-year old All-Star center and a 23-year old perimeter defensive menace for a combined sum of 35% of the league’s salary cap.
Based on that math, the Pistons would have two key franchise pieces on the roster for the next half decade for the price of one singular supermax contract, which would give Detroit a decided advantage in terms of future roster construction. Thompson signed a five-year, $155 rookie scale extension just two days ago, so Duren is the lone missing piece remaining in Detroit’s offseason agenda.
Since the deliberation process has stretched this far out between Duren and the Pistons, there is a chance that the big man becomes fed up and decides to take his qualifying offer. Now, that would incur significant risk since JD would only make $9.6 million next season and would have to stay healthy while playing at a high level in order to necessitate such a lofty raise next offseason, but he would in fact become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Duren has until Oct. 1 to decide whether that road is the one he wants to travel down, and the Pistons will have an immense amount of clarity two weeks from now, just in time for the pre-season.
