Jalen Duren Isn't The Pistons' Only Tough Contract Decision This Offseason

The Detroit Pistons are at a contractual standstill with Jalen Duren, who is reportedly "underwhelmed" by their offer. While Duren explored sign-and-trade scenarios, the Pistons refuse and will match any offer, claiming they made their most lucrative proposal. With Duren's market leverage diminishing, he faces a choice between a long-term deal or a qualifying offer. Concurrently, Ausar Thompson is also extension-eligible. An elite defender but poor offensive player, Thompson's non-shooting alongside Duren presents spacing challenges for the Pistons. Comparisons to Lu Dort and Alex Caruso suggest Thompson's extension could be around $93.5 million over four years or $121.1 million over five, roughly 12% of the projected salary cap. Thompson could seek more or risk restricted free agency, but recent RFA outcomes highlight the dangers of not securing an early extension.

More than two weeks into free agency, Jalen Duren and the Detroit Pistons remain at a contractual standstill.

A few days before free agency officially began, Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that Duren was "underwhelmed" by Detroit's "initial offer in restricted free agency and was planning to explore sign-and-trade scenarios" this offseason. However, sources told Andscape's Marc J. Spears that the Pistons "are not interested in any sign-and-trade deals for Duren and will match any potential offer sheet he signs."

Spears added that Detroit has offered "what the franchise believes is the most lucrative contract possible" for Duren, although he didn't specify the exact numbers.

With the Los Angeles Lakers having instead pivoted to a sign-and-trade for Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler and salary-cap space drying up around the league, Duren is running low on leverage in negotiations. He could always threaten to take his one-year, $9.6 million qualifying offer, which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next year. But would he willingly pass up a nine-figure offer from Detroit and risk an injury that could submarine his chances of cashing in next summer?

As Duren continues to ponder that, he isn’t the only key contractual decision the Pistons need to make this summer. Ausar Thompson is also eligible to sign a rookie-scale extension from now through the last day before the start of the regular season in October.

In mid-June, Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon told reporters that negotiations hadn't been progressing with either Duren or Thompson at the time. Since their fates are intertwined, the Pistons might not begin serious negotiations with the latter until they resolve the former's situation.

Thompson might prove similarly tricky to reach an agreement with, though.

Unlike Duren, Thompson likely won't be in contention for a max or near-max contract. He's an elite defender, as evidenced by his first-team All-Defense nod and third-place finish in the Defensive Player of the Year race this past season, but he's underwhelming offensively.

Thompson has shot 51.5% from the field throughout his three-year NBA career, although nearly 80% of his field-goal attempts have come within 10 feet of the basket. He's a career 20.4% shooter from deep on extremely low volume, and he's a terrible free-throw shooter (60.0%) as well.

Duren is also a complete non-factor from three-point range. He still has yet to make his first career triple. That could make it tricky for the Pistons to build around both him and Thompson moving forward, particularly once the playoffs roll around.

During the 2025-26 regular season, the Pistons had the league's ninth-ranked offense, but they were 28th out of 30 teams in made three-pointers per game and 29th in three-point attempts. They shot 35.9% from deep in the playoffs—tied for the fourth-best mark of any playoff team—but they were 11th out of the 16 teams in made threes per game and 14th in attempts.

The Pistons did add shooting this offseason between John Collins, who drilled a career-high 40.6% of his three-point attempts with the Los Angeles Clippers last season, and Isaiah Joe, a career 40.6% shooter from deep. Is that enough to offset the spacing concerns that arise when playing Thompson and Duren together?

The Pistons will only have training camp and the preseason to see that play out before they reach the deadline to sign Thompson.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could provide two templates for the negotiations between Thompson and the Pistons, although neither player is a perfect comparison.

When the Thunder signed Lu Dort to a five-year, $82.5 million extension in July 2022, he was fresh off a season in which he averaged a career-high 17.2 points per game, albeit on middling efficiency for a 24-win Thunder squad. His offensive production has steadily declined in the years since, although he earned a first-team All-Defense nod and finished fourth in the DPOY race in 2024-25.

Dort's contract was uniquely structured—he earned $15.3 million in each of the first two years, $17.0 million flat in the third year and $17.3 million in each of the final two seasons (including a team option in 2026-27). As a result, he earned anywhere between roughly 11-12% of the salary cap in each of those years.

Thunder guard Alex Caruso would be a similar comparable to Thompson in that regard. He earned All-Defense nods in both 2022-23 and 2023-24 with the Chicago Bulls before getting traded to OKC for Josh Giddey during the 2024 offseason. Caruso played a scaled-down role during the regular season as the Thunder tried to keep him fresh for the playoffs, but they unleashed him as a whirling dervish of defensive havoc en route to the 2025 championship.

Six months after his arrival in OKC, the Thunder signed Caruso to a four-year, $81.1 million extension almost as soon as he was eligible for that deal. Like Dort, he's set to take up roughly 12% of the salary cap in each of those four seasons.

That brings us back to Thompson. The NBA is currently projecting the 2027-28 salary cap to land at around $174 million, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. A contract starting at 12% of that cap would begin at roughly $20.9 million. From that starting point, Thompson could sign a four-year deal worth roughly $93.5 million or a five-year, $121.1 million contract.

Thompson is eligible to receive up to 25% of the salary cap as the starting salary of his next contract, so it's unclear whether offering him 12% of the cap would be enough to convince him to sign an extension by October. He could always bet on himself to have a breakout offensive season and choose to test restricted free agency in 2027.

However, that approach wouldn't come without risk. While Kessler cashed in with a four-year, $130 million deal via a sign-and-trade with the Lakers this offseason, other RFAs haven't been as fortunate in recent years.

Jonathan Kuminga spent months in a standoff with the Golden State Warriors last offseason before agreeing to a contract that was effectively designed to be traded. Quentin Grimes didn't reach an agreement with the Philadelphia 76ers at all; instead, he took his one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer and then left to sign with the Lakers the following summer. This offseason, Duren, Bennedict Mathurin and Peyton Watson still have yet to sign new deals more than two weeks into free agency.

With that in mind, it wouldn't be a surprise if cooler heads eventually prevail and Thompson eventually reaches an extension with the Pistons. Dort and Caruso's contracts could at least provide the two sides with a baseline for negotiations.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.