At the moment, Jalen Duren is far and away the biggest name still left on the free agency market
Earlier today, the NBA proved once again how smaller moves can often precipitate larger trickle-down effects across the league. Once elite shooter Klay Thompson was bought out by the Dallas Mavericks, then the veteran was able to work out a deal with the Miami Heat to play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo for the next two years.
Under the surface, veteran wing DeMar DeRozan was potentially in line for a deal with the Heat as well after he was waived by the Sacramento Kings earlier this offseason. However, once Thompson hit the market and promptly worked out an agreement with the Heat, then the roadway was cleared for DeRozan to join Nikola Jokic on the Denver Nuggets for the upcoming season. There were rumblings that DeRozan could possibly be an option for the Detroit Pistons, but nothing ever materialized on that front.
In addition to those signings, the Nuggets also traded Peyton Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers recently as part of a larger, multi-team deal, so the last 24 hours have been quite active from a league-wide perspective. But with Watson’s situation cleared up, DeRozan off the market, James Harden returning to the Cavs and Thompson headed to the Heat, the market has cleared up considerably in a short period of time.
At the moment, Duren remains the last high-profile player with an uncertain future since he still hasn’t been able to work out a long-term agreement with the Pistons. The 22-year old center would quite obviously prefer a deal closer to max value after his All-Star season, but Detroit understands that the market is not saturated with teams that can offer JD that type of money. So, the two sides have been engaged in a proverbial stalemate for the better part of two months now.
Now that DeRozan is off the market and outside of Duren, the list of notable remaining free agents shrinks to essentially Jonathan Kuminga, Bennedict Mathurin, Cam Thomas and Gabe Vincent, so JD is really the last high profile player left on the board. But since the negotiating process is so far along by this point, Duren’s options have actually become more limited.
At the moment, the Pistons are not interested in pursuing a sign-and-trade involving Duren, which means the big man is more than welcome to accept his qualifying offer to play for one year at just under $10 million before hitting unrestricted free agency next summer. Now, that only becomes an option if the Pistons and Duren cannot agree to a long-term deal, but it’s still an avenue that’s on the table right now.
Accepting a qualifying offer is always a major risk for a young player seeking their first substantial contract in the NBA, so it is currently unclear how enthusiastic Duren would be about that potential option. The most likely solution is still that the Pistons and Duren come to an agreement sometime within the next month on a long-term deal that pays near max value so as to not ruin their relationship entirely, but that requires both sides to be willing to accept some degree of compromise before moving forward.
