Jalen Duren’s rise after the All-Star break gave Detroit a center who looked ready for a bigger payday. Then the playoffs arrived, and the Pistons answered with a different version of him.
Duren averaged 22.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game on 67.8% shooting after the All-Star break in 2026, but he managed 10.1 points and 8.3 rebounds through 12 playoff games. On Wednesday, in Detroit’s Game 5 loss, he was benched in the fourth quarter and overtime in favor of Paul Reed, a late-game decision that added pressure to a contract picture already shifting toward restricted free agency this summer.
’s Brian Windhorst said Duren’s rough postseason could complicate talks when he reaches the market, and an Eastern Conference executive put the stakes bluntly: Duren is “not a max player,” the executive said, “but they’re probably going to have to give him the max.” The same executive said teams with cap room, such as Chicago or Brooklyn, might try to test Detroit with a max offer sheet, forcing the Pistons to decide whether to match. The executive also warned that the league’s new apron rules could hurt a team trying to keep talent and pay elsewhere at the same time.
The contrast between Duren’s post-All-Star surge and his playoff numbers is the center of the problem. Detroit saw a big man who had finished the season with force and efficiency, then watched him become less reliable in a series where every possession tightened and Reed got the closing minutes instead. That gap matters because the market does not price potential the same way it prices production under pressure, and Duren now has to negotiate with both in the room.
Ausar Thompson is next in line for the same sort of financial test, and his case is built on a different set of questions. He will be eligible for a rookie scale extension ahead of his fourth NBA season, after a year in which he made six three-pointers, converted 57.1% of his free throws and was benched in some clutch-time situations during the postseason. Tim Bontemps said some league insiders believe Thompson could command a deal in the range of $25 million per year.
Recent rookie extensions around the league show how fast those numbers can move. Dyson Daniels signed a four-year, $100 million rookie scale extension last fall, and Christian Braun agreed to a five-year, $125 million rookie scale extension last fall. Those contracts do not decide Thompson’s future, but they help frame the range Detroit may have to consider as it weighs its own roster and the cost of keeping it together.
For the Pistons, the offseason is no longer just about talent. It is about timing, leverage and the rules that now shape how expensive it is to keep a young core intact. Duren’s contract talks may be the first hard test, but Thompson’s extension window is close behind, and both will tell the same story about where Detroit believes its roster is headed.
