All-NBA center Jalen Duran agreed to a five-year, $200 million fully guaranteed contract to return to the Detroit Pistons.
Agent Chafie Fields of THE•TEAM told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Thursday night.
The agreement ends a four-month contract standoff between the sides that spanned throughout the summer and continued into the start of training camp this week.
Duren, a restricted free agent, remained unsigned at the beginning of camp, skipping media day and sat out the first few practices of the year after he did not initially accept a five-year, $200 million fully guaranteed contract offer from the team two weeks ago. He previously had offers ranging from $170 million to $190 million throughout the summer, according to Charania.
But Duren ultimately accepted the standing Pistons proposal, doing so ahead of an 11.59 p.m. ET deadline Thursday that he had to accept a one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer from Detroit, which would have made him an unrestricted free agent next summer. However, such a deal would have been unprecedented for a player of his caliber; no player who has made an All-NBA or All-Star team has signed a qualifying offer.
Duren’s issue went beyond the money, however.
Sources told Charania earlier this week that his representatives made it clear that he felt disrespected by the process, especially compared with how the team handled the contract extension of forward Ausar Thompson, who agreed to a five-year, $155 million rookie-scale deal with the Pistons earlier this month. Duren also took issue with weight clauses in some of the team’s previous offers.
Duren, 22, is coming off the best regular season in his young career. He averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on 65% shooting in 70 games while helping the Pistons secure the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference. But his production drastically dropped in the postseason, where he averaged 10.5 points and 8.5 rebounds on 51% shooting in 14 games as Detroit was eliminated by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the East semifinals.
Throughout his playoff struggles and as the standoff continued during the summer, the Pistons have insisted that Duren was a major part of the team’s future, refusing to engage with potential sign-and-trade proposals.
President of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said he still had confidence Duren would return to the team on some sort of deal. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff and star Cade Cunningham threw their support to Duren during the team’s media day and said they kept in contact with him throughout the summer.
The Pistons will play their first preseason game Monday, when they host the Phoenix Suns.
Culled from ESPN
