The Detroit Pistons’ president of basketball operations was strategically ambiguous through most of his end-of-season press conference.
Trajan Langdon said the team will search for ways to improve this offseason after a 60-win regular season and Game 7 exit in the second round of the playoffs. He hinted the roster could look different next season. Only time will reveal what that will look like.
However, Langdon was far more direct when discussing the futures of two players who are eligible for new contracts this summer – Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren. He expects that both will sign with the franchise long term. Thompson is eligible for his rookie-scale contract extension. And Duren, who has completed the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, is entering restricted free agency.
There has been debate about Duren’s value to the Pistons following a breakout regular season, and underwhelming postseason. But any speculation about his future with the franchise can be laid to rest, because the Pistons are committed to reaching a new agreement with the 22-year-old big man.
Duren arguably was the player who improved the most this past year, ascending into stardom with a breakout season. He and Cade Cunningham both were named All-Stars and were two of the biggest drivers of success on the best Pistons team in two decades. Langdon has a lot to navigate, but he’s not breaking up a young core that has now drastically exceeded expectations two seasons in a row.
“First of all, J.D. had a fantastic season,” Langdon said at the team’s practice facility in New Center on Tuesday, May 19. “All-Star, one of the biggest contributors to us being a No. 1 seed. Darn-near 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. An incredible year and an incredible leap from last year to this year because of the work that he put in last summer and his focus. I have no doubt that we’ll put a plan together and he’ll attack it this summer, just like he did last summer, and he’ll come back a better player from his experience, not only during the regular season but also in the postseason just like all of our guys will.
“We look forward to coming together with his representative and getting a deal done, and for him to continue to be a Piston.”
Few had Duren pegged as a soon-to-be star after a productive-but-uneven third season in 2024-25, during which he averaged 11.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 blocks per game. He started the season slow on both ends of the floor, but slowly rounded into form as the team hit its stride at the end of December. As he got better, so did the Pistons.
By the playoffs, he and Cunningham had formed a reliable two-man game that became the basis of the Pistons’ offense. Defensively, Duren went from poor to respectable to impactful. His focus and execution sharpened, and he held his own as a key part of a defensive unit morphing into one of the league’s best.
It was expected that, after an offseason of hard work, Duren would come back an improved player in 2025-26. What was tougher to predict is that he would grow into one of the league’s most-efficient offensive bigs while also taking a step forward as a rim protector.
Duren averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, on 65% overall shooting. He nearly averaged 20 points per game on just 11.5 shot attempts, making him one of the league’s most unique weapons. Among players who averaged 12 or fewer shots, Duren was the only one to crack the 18-point threshold. Trae Young (17.9 points) is second on the list, followed by Chet Holmgren (17.1 points).
Even as he diversified his shot profile, Duren remained efficient. His lob connection with Cunningham remained potent, but he mixed in more drives to the rim against slower centers, more post moves against weaker players and the occasional midrange shot. And like the previous season, he got better as it went on.
After returning from a two-game suspension exiting All-Star weekend, Duren averaged 22.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a block per game on 67.8% shooting. He was a big reason the Pistons were able to withstand a late season collapsed lung for Cunningham, which cost him 11 games in March and April, and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference as he recovered.
That momentum didn’t carry into the playoffs, though. His numbers dropped across the board through 14 postseason games, averaging 10.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks on 51.4% shooting. Passes and rebounds that were one automatic bounced off of his hands. Attacking mismatches didn’t come as easily, and he wasn’t as decisive with the ball. Often, it appeared he was thinking about the game more than playing it.
The Orlando Magic made a point to isolate Duren away from the Pistons’ offense in the first round, and he was slow to adjust. He did look like the regular-season version of himself, though, at times. Such as Game 7 against the Magic, when he tallied his first double-double of the playoffs with 15 points, 15 rebounds and three assists to help them clinch their first trip to the second round since 2008.
“I think defenses took some things away from him and that’s the biggest thing,” Langdon said. “A lot of the things that we did during the regular season, defenses made sure that he didn’t get easy baskets close to the rim. I think that was the biggest thing offensively.
“He battled in both series. I don’t think it made him quit at all. He kept battling, he did a lot of things to help us win. I think if you were to ask him if he were the best version of himself, he would say ‘Yeah, I didn’t play the basketball I would’ve liked to have played.’ Sometimes that happens with young players in the league.”
The Pistons can offer him a maximum of up to five years and roughly $239 million, which is a starting salary of around $41.4 million, or 25% of next year’s salary cap, with 8% annual raises. Outside teams are limited to offering a maximum four-year contract at about $177.4 million with the same starting salary. Though the Pistons offering him a maximum deal already wasn’t a guarantee before the playoffs, a big offer from another team could still force Detroit to pay a hefty sum to retain him.
The extent that Duren’s postseason performance will weigh into negotiations remains to be seen. But for the front office, 14 playoff games won’t undo the growth they saw from Duren through 148 regular season games. In a sense, he is a victim of his own success. The Pistons have seen what he’s capable of, and how high their floor is when he plays to his potential.
Their bet is that a 22-year-old who has undergone massive growth in two years, will continue to climb upward.
“I think like I said before with all our guys, we’re all going to learn from the positives and negatives, the takeaways and get better from that,” Langdon said. “But saying all that, he had a lot of success this season. He got a lot better from the previous season. A lot for him to be proud of and build on.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons intend to sign Jalen Duren in restricted free agency
