Maybe the Jalen Duren staring contest won’t last all the way to training camp after all.
There remains a gap between Duren and the Pistons in contract negotiations, but it may be smaller than previously believed.
“There is a gap. It’s not as big as I thought it was before having a few recent conversations,” Sam Amick said on The Athletic NBA Daily podcast, via HoopsHype. “It seems like there’s a window here to get something done and put him back in a Pistons jersey.”
That’s certainly more encouraging than where things appeared to stand last week.
As we noted at Hoops Wire, Duren’s camp reportedly has been seeking more than $40 million annually, while Detroit’s offers have been closer to the mid-$30 million range.
Duren could accept his $9.6 million qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Amick, though, described that as something of a “nuclear option” for both sides.
“I think what’s interesting is like the QO has become such a nuclear option for players and also for teams that it’s fair to wonder, like, man, if they can’t completely bridge that gap, how do both sides feel about the QO?” he said. “Because even from a human standpoint, we haven’t seen a lot of people successfully take that route.”
Duren, 22, averaged career highs of 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds last season, earning his first All-Star appearance and third-team All-NBA honors.
The Pistons want him back. Duren presumably wants to get paid. Perhaps they’re finally getting closer to finding a number that accomplishes both.
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