Latest On Jalen Duren, Gary Trent Jr., NBA Intel With Tomer And Brett | Clutch Scoops 9/24/26

mentioned, Jalen Duren remains the lone restricted free agent.

And lone free agents, the decision really to be made here, guys like Ben Simmons have even signed.

Benedict Matherin is gone and chose the Pelicans.

So Jalen Duren remains a restricted free agent.

From what we've understood here, Detroit has continued to increase their offers for Duren.

I believe they were somewhere in the range of 190.

They got up to 200 million over five years.

And Duren has still not accepted the terms of that deal.

At this point, Brett, I do have to wonder what the kind of thought process is behind Duren and his camp here.

I know you covered it recently with a piece on ClutchPoints.com, obviously.

So why don't you kind of just go into what's going on with Jalen Duren and his restricted free agency?

When free agency first started, Jalen Dern and the Pistons were far apart on a deal.

The Pistons did not want to go beyond $35 million.

They wanted to get them less than that.

They wanted to get somewhere in that $30 to $35 million annually range.

And then Jalen Dern, he wanted a max contract.

Him and his reps thought after an all-star, all-NBA caliber season that he deserved to get paid as one of the best centers in the league, especially with the cap figures increasing as they do every year.

And they had some kind of an argument, but the wide perspective around the league is that Jalen Dern is not viewed as a top five center.

Some have him as a fringe top 10 center.

Maybe he is after the past season that he had, but he's not going to get paid like some of these guys like Joel Embiid or Anthony Davis or Alperin Shingun from the Rockets.

Not going to be in that same class of player just yet.

just because this was his first all-star and first all-NBA season.

That was the thinking for the Pistons.

They wanted to get him on some of a team-friendly deal.

That way they could have him and Asar Thompson together.

mentioned, Jalen Duren remains the lone restricted free agent.

And lone free agents, the decision really to be made here, guys like Ben Simmons have even signed.

Benedict Matherin is gone and chose the Pelicans.

So Jalen Duren remains a restricted free agent.

From what we've understood here, Detroit has continued to increase their offers for Duren.

I believe they were somewhere in the range of 190.

They got up to 200 million over five years.

And Duren has still not accepted the terms of that deal.

At this point, Brett, I do have to wonder what the kind of thought process is behind Duren and his camp here.

I know you covered it recently with a piece on ClutchPoints.com, obviously.

So why don't you kind of just go into what's going on with Jalen Duren and his restricted free agency?

When free agency first started, Jalen Dern and the Pistons were far apart on a deal.

The Pistons did not want to go beyond $35 million.

They wanted to get them less than that.

They wanted to get somewhere in that $30 to $35 million annually range.

And then Jalen Dern, he wanted a max contract.

Him and his reps thought after an all-star, all-NBA caliber season that he deserved to get paid as one of the best centers in the league, especially with the cap figures increasing as they do every year.

And they had some kind of an argument, but the wide perspective around the league is that Jalen Dern is not viewed as a top five center.

Some have him as a fringe top 10 center.

Maybe he is after the past season that he had, but he's not going to get paid like some of these guys like Joel Embiid or Anthony Davis or Alperin Shingun from the Rockets.

Not going to be in that same class of player just yet.

just because this was his first all-star and first all-NBA season.

That was the thinking for the Pistons.

They wanted to get him on some of a team-friendly deal.

That way they could have him and Asar Thompson together.