Remember how fun last summer’s endless Jonathan Kuminga rumors were? Well get ready for a new round of Restricted Free Agency Extravaganza as the Kings are reportedly set to meet with Detroit Pistons free agent Jalen Duren. Duren, like Kuminga, is a restricted free agent this summer and has reportedly been underwhelmed by the Pistons’ contract offers as he seeks his first big NBA payday. Duren is just 22 years old and made both the All-Star and All-NBA 3rd team this year as the Pistons finished 1st in the Eastern Conference. Duren averaged 19.5 points on 65% from the field to go with 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks in 70 games. Duren also finished 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
NBA TV’s Chris Haynes was the first to report the Kings scheduled meeting with Duren at the start of Free Agency tomorrow, with the Athletic’s Sam Amick later confirming. The Kings don’t have any cap space so any signing would have to involve a sign-and-trade scenario, with Amick reporting that the most likely scenario would involve Domantas Sabonis going back to Detroit. However the Kings aren’t the only ones trying to pry Duren away from the Pistons, as Amick later reported that he has a call scheduled with the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow morning as well. The Lakers would have far more leverage than the Kings, because they would actually be able to sign Duren to an offer sheet and force Detroit to match as they have a significant amount of cap space heading into the offseason.
Reporting on @NBATV about Jalen Duren’s preference to sign with the Sacramento Kings and the dilemma the Detroit Pistons are faced with: pic.twitter.com/DGrCppcMf8
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 30, 2026
We’ve seen this song and dance from the Kings with free agents before, and the overwhelming possibility is that this is simply a leverage play by Duren and his camp to extract more value from the Pistons. For what it’s worth, Haynes was on ESPN 1320 with Damien Barling and KC and said that Duren “has made it clear that this is where he wants to be.” But the Kings hold little leverage if Detroit doesn’t like their offer, and Domantas Sabonis alone likely wouldn’t be enough to entice them. I would have to assume that the Kings would also need to include first round draft capital to move the needle. Fortunately, unlike their second round picks, the Kings do have (almost) full control of their future first rounders, and a talent like Duren might be worth parting with some.
In order to pry Duren away, the Kings would likely be looking at signing him to a max or near-max deal for 4 years, estimated to be worth around $40-44 million annually. That’s roughly in line with what Domantas Sabonis is already making, but Duren would be far younger and give the Kings potentially the best defensive center they’ve ever had. Duren was the backstop for a Pistons team that finished 2nd in defensive rating last season. Offensively, Duren is fairly limited in what he can do and that was exposed a bit in the playoffs, where his scoring dipped to just 10.2 points on 51.4% shooting. Over half of Duren’s field goal attempts come at the rim, and almost the entirety of the rest of them is within 3-10 feet.
Still, this is an aggressive move that would definitely leave me feeling more optimistic about this team’s future (assuming any trade only involves one fully unprotected pick. I’d be hesitant to include two or more). Duren fits this team’s new timeline around Darius Acuff as well as provides the size, physicality and defense that this team desperately needs. I have my doubts that the Kings will actually be able to pull it off, but hats off for at least trying.
Reposting this from the other thread because I think it is relevant. Full disclosure, I’m no cap expert and this could be totally wrong, but I got the info from a Duren sign and trade discussion on a Pistons reddit and my brief research in to BYC rules with sign and trades checks out:
Ok, so looking at the numbers the most Duren can sign in FA is for 4 years at $177M. The Pistons, however, can sign him to a 5 year $287M deal!! That’s why they are balking. That’s crazy money for Andre Drummond 2.0.
The wrinkle is in a S&T the Pistons can only count 50% of Duren’s base year compensation. So a max deal accounts for 30% of the cap (roughly $50M per year) but the Pistons can only use 50% of that in trade. This rule is in place to prevent team from signing players to bloated/overpaid deals to immediately be used in trades.
This means the Pistons would only be allowed to get a return of roughly $25M in a max sign and trade of Duren.
That means no Sabonis or LaVine in a swap, but two dudes who have numbers around there are Keegan and Hunter.
If this info is inaccurate, please correct me.
In the end, I think this is just a leverage move by Duren’s camp and the Lakers scenario feels far more likely. He’d be great with Luka.
I’ve been asking about this as well and it’s only a problem if Detroit stays an over the cap team. But BYC only kicks in if you’re over the cap. If you’re below the cap, which is something the Pistons can get to with renouncing their cap holds on most of their free agents (Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley), etc. then BYC won’t kick in.
Ok, that makes sense. Should they do that then maybe a swap for Sabonis…or even LaVine could work within the rules.
Still, I’m not sure why Detroit thinks Sabonis is better then Duran on near matching salaries. Would it be the length of contract?
What do they know that we don’t know?
Like Orlando who just can’t score enough- maybe they just feel that the addition of offense outweighs the lessened defense that Domas supplies. Maybe they just don’t like the guy or he feels that the playoffs have tarnished him and he needs to move on.
Maybe it’s just the weather.
Finally. Not sure why this took so long.
https://bsky.app/profile/keithsmithnba.bsky.social/post/3mphrei53ok2h
Just guessing – looking to see if they could use him as part of a trade. But who knows?
Not just Kings – but it sure is shaping up to be a very exciting Free Agency/Off Season around the League.
Badge Legend