Ivey and Duren Extensions

[Rip32]

When paying guys fair value, that goes a longs ways in the locker room. But the value is predicated on what you've done on the court i.e. your availability.

[bstein14]

Perhaps an extension for Duren would have been wise, yes? Surely it would have been less then what the team is gonna have to pay him now...

Well, he was asking for $30 million/per. Even if he gets an All-Star nod, I'm not sure he's going to make *more* than that. Who's signing him to an offer sheet for more than that?

That's what the Pistons thought about Greg Monroe and then Monroe took his QO and got a max contract (3 year) from the Bucks. That's what the Suns thought about Ayton and then he got a max contract offer as a RFA from the Pacers.

I think, especially if we win a playoff series or two and we're a top 3 seed in the East, someone is going to look at Duren putting up a super efficient 20 and 12 as a 22 year old all-star and throw a bag of money at him.

If he ends up being both an all-star it could get pricey. Some of that depends on what teams clear away players this year to look forward to the draft and free agency.


A list of the "best FAs of 2026" right now includes 3 Pistons (Duren, Tobias and Ivey) but also guys like.
LeBron James
Austin Reaves
Coby White
John Collins
Tari Eason(R)
Bennedict Mathurin(R)
CJ McCollum
Cam Thomas (who took QO to become UFA in 2026)
Quentin Grimes (who took Qo to become UFA in 2026)

I feel like the list isn't great for 2026, but we wont really have any idea how many teams will be in a position to have $30+ million in cap space until we see how this trade deadline unfolds.

Obviously Duren has ties to Memphis, if they decide to be sellers at the deadline they could look to rebuild around Duren.
Would Utah move on from Walker Kessler to go with Duren? Brooklyn will for sure have a bunch of money to spend could they kick Claxton to the curb.

[MrBigShot]

The cap for next season will be $166 million. I can live with Duren making near $30 mil if he keeps playing like this.

Not too many bigs in the league are going to give you 19/12 on 70 TS% in 29 mins a game.

[Kalamazoo317]

That's what the Pistons thought about Greg Monroe and then Monroe took his QO and got a max contract (3 year) from the Bucks. That's what the Suns thought about Ayton and then he got a max contract offer as a RFA from the Pacers.

And that ended up being bullet dodged for us with Monroe. Suns matched on Ayton and he got paid. That's certainly the risk you run, yeah. If someone out there ends up floating a max offer to Duren, we'll have a decision on our hands. Not saying it can't happen, but am wondering who (if anyone) you think would do it.

[Cowology]

That's what the Pistons thought about Greg Monroe and then Monroe took his QO and got a max contract (3 year) from the Bucks. That's what the Suns thought about Ayton and then he got a max contract offer as a RFA from the Pacers.

And that ended up being bullet dodged for us with Monroe. Suns matched on Ayton and he got paid. That's certainly the risk you run, yeah. If someone out there ends up floating a max offer to Duren, we'll have a decision on our hands. Not saying it can't happen, but am wondering who (if anyone) you think would do it.

I think the point was that these things have a way of popping up in unexpected places. Nobody had MIL on their radar and then BOOM, there goes Turner.

It can be difficult to know where the surprises are coming from. Nobody had Luka for AD on their bingo card but stuff happens in the NBA. One thing that's sure to happen is *somebody* will vastly overpay for Duren. It might be us or it may be somebody else, but anybody thinking this dude isn't getting a max deal is fooling themselves. Big men get paid in this league and he is going to cost us.

[Kalamazoo317]

I think he’ll get paid. I’m still skeptical it’ll be the *max.* RFA is a powerful tool. We’ll see.