Detroit Pistons Offseason: 2026

[HugoD]

On 5/30/2026 at 9:05 PM, Deleterious said:

It isn't the enemy of the good.  It's the enemy of the bad, even terrible.  Not only will teams not care if he shoots it, they will encourage it.  Teams score over 1 point per possession, they would love if Duren is taking shots where he will shoot in the low 40's and score .8 per shot.  That is a huge w in for any defense.

 

That's over the top.   Everyone knows the math on 3s v, mid ranges, but those are meta numbers.  In this case, as was mentioned, .8 is great than 0.  Also, there are other dynamics at play in how different actions can be enhanced by new options available.  There are more and more coaches who are reintroducing the mid range element to take advantage of how other teams are constructed.  It's like arbitrage.   fyi - JD will be getting closer to $40 than $30.

[Betrayer]

3 hours ago, buddha said:

from the athletic:

"There’s a general sense around the league, as things stand today, that negotiations likely began far apart and will eventually come to a middle ground in the ballpark of a five-year, $200 million to $220 million deal — landing Duren an average annual value of $40 million to $44 million. "

The good news is this is just another story. I've heard reports of 36M, 37M, 40M, and now this one for 44M. This is a lot of guessing. My only hope is that it's closer to 35 than 40M. I'd obviously prefer 25-30M, where he actually belongs, but we all know that's not happening.

I do love how defenders of this always justify it with, "He's only 22 so he'll get better", but nobody can offer up an answer for WHAT he'll get better at. What skill does he have that we're betting on him improving? Dunking? He's shown zero ability to be a stretch 5 and you don't suddenly learn defensive instincts and gain perimeter footspeed. I'd be more willing to bet that this season was his ceiling than that he will suddenly turn into a Embiid, Jokic, or even Gobert.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Betrayer said:

I do love how defenders of this always justify it with, "He's only 22 so he'll get better", but nobody can offer up an answer for WHAT he'll get better at. What skill does he have that we're betting on him improving? Dunking? He's shown zero ability to be a stretch 5 and you don't suddenly learn defensive instincts and gain perimeter footspeed. I'd be more willing to bet that this season was his ceiling than that he will suddenly turn into a Embiid, Jokic, or even Gobert.

Right. Between last year and this year he got better at things he was already doing, improving from here is a tougher lift. And FTM, the same is true for Ausar.

[buddha]

2 hours ago, Betrayer said:

The good news is this is just another story. I've heard reports of 36M, 37M, 40M, and now this one for 44M. This is a lot of guessing. My only hope is that it's closer to 35 than 40M. I'd obviously prefer 25-30M, where he actually belongs, but we all know that's not happening.

I do love how defenders of this always justify it with, "He's only 22 so he'll get better", but nobody can offer up an answer for WHAT he'll get better at. What skill does he have that we're betting on him improving? Dunking? He's shown zero ability to be a stretch 5 and you don't suddenly learn defensive instincts and gain perimeter footspeed. I'd be more willing to bet that this season was his ceiling than that he will suddenly turn into a Embiid, Jokic, or even Gobert.

i too think this may be duren's ceiling.  but he's so young, he might be able to keep his athleticism for the next 7-8 years.  they are betting on improved defensive awareness with time.  that is not a huge leap, imo.

otoh, the foot speed is likely to never be better than it is now.  he is as strong as an ox now, i cant see that getting better.  its already good.  he's not going to get any taller.

what can he improve?  a jump shot and defensive awareness.  will he get there?  your guess is aa good as mine, but i have a feeling were going to pay $250 million to find out.

[Shinzaki]

We don't know if Duren can shoot a three...he's never (I think) tried one.  Not even in College.  Maybe it's a hidden skill

[Deleterious]

I don't consider this to be a credible rumor.  But I laughed pretty hard at someone's response to this.

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We already know Cade likes passing to him.