New Jalen Duren Rumors on Upgraded Pistons Contract Offer, 2 New Teams with 'Serious' Interest

Jalen Duren, one of the top free agents remaining, has yet to sign a deal ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, but the Detroit Pistons reportedly have improved their offer to the big man.

Per The Athletic's Sam Amick and Hunter Patterson, Detroit recently upped its offer by $10 million after making a five-year, $190 million offer in August. The new five-year, $200 million offer has no team or player options and is fully guaranteed.

The offer comes amid interest from the Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks, according to Amick and Patterson.

Duren was one of the NBA's most impactful big men last year, averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 65 percent from the field. He finished 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting as the Pistons finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference.

A player of his caliber presumably would have signed a deal by this point in the offseason, but he and the Pistons haven't managed to make much progress over the past few months.

NBA insider Marc Stein reported last week that Duren is "increasingly prepared to play out the coming season on his $9.6 million qualifying offer" if he and the Pistons haven't reached a deal by the end of September, a move that would be rather surprising given the All-NBA season he just had.

But given the fact that he's a restricted free agent, it could make more sense for Duren to miss out on a big deal this offseason and instead focus on next offseason, when he'll be an unrestricted free agent.

If he puts together an even better 2026-27 campaign, plenty of teams will be looking to get him on their roster. Amick and Patterson noted that while the Bucks and Kings are interested in Duren this offseason, they would potentially still be interested next summer.

Of course, taking the qualifying offer comes with its risks. His value could take a hit if he has a down year or suffers a season-ending injury. One could argue he gave the Pistons reason to question his value after the playoffs, where he averaged just 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game across 14 contests.

While it seems Duren could be trending towards just taking the qualifying offer, the new proposal from the Pistons at least shows that the two sides are having discussions. Whether those talks will result in anything in the coming weeks remains to be seen.