The Jalen Duren contract standoff is over. Duren accepted a fully guaranteed five-year, $200 million deal from the Detroit Pistons late Thursday night, ahead of a midnight deadline, and the question now moves to whether a core of Duren, Cade Cunningham, and Ausar Thompson can win a title together.
Duren is 22 years old, Thompson is 23, and Cunningham is 25. All three are locked into long-term money in Detroit. Thompson signed a five-year, $155 million extension in September, and Cunningham has four seasons left on a five-year contract that escalated to $269 million when he made All-NBA. The Pistons went 60-22 with that group last season. Can they grow together, or will all of these contracts backfire?
The Jalen Duren Contract Comes With Elite Expectations
At $40 million a year, Duren has to play like an elite center. In 70 games last season he averaged 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.8 steals per game, and he made his first All-Star team.
He also has plenty of room to grow, and he has a quiet postseason to put behind him. Duren’s scoring fell to 10.2 points per game across Detroit’s 14 playoff games, a run that ended with a seven-game loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Kevin O’Connor Is Not Sold on Detroit’s Core
Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports was critical of the group the moment the deal landed. He had already floated a Duren trade to the Atlanta Hawks before the two sides came to terms.
All that drama just to take the deal. $200M guaranteed is too hard to pass up of course. But unfortunately for the Pistons, they still need to split up Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson. Two total non-shooters will not win a title and that has to be the goal for the Cade era.
It is too early for a verdict like that. All three players are extremely young, and none of them has reached his ceiling.
Let the Next Two Seasons Play Out
Detroit needs at least another two seasons of Duren, Thompson, and Cunningham together before anyone decides this core cannot win a championship. The East will not be easy either, given how much talent sits in the conference.
The Pistons need to get back to the playoffs this season. What matters just as much is that Duren shows major improvement in 2026-27, Thompson becomes a better shooter, and Cunningham pushes into the top five of the MVP race.
