Jalen Duren continues to reject the offers pitched to him by the Pistons this summer, and OKC Thunder stars Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams may be a factor in why.
During a recent edition of the Hoop Collective podcast, hosts Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon discussed the ongoing holdout of the big man, noting how he and Detroit are still well apart from one another on a potential salary figure.
To MacMahon, the reason behind Duren's reluctance to ink lower than the max stems from the fact that three other All-Stars from his respective draft class of 2022, two of whom are Holmgren and Williams, all earned extensions last offseason at the 25.0 percent max the league allotted them.
Now, with an All-Star and All-NBA Third Team honor both under his belt following his breakout 2025-26 regular season, the 22-year-old believes there's a benchmark earnings floor that he deserves to land with his next deal, yet, based on recent reports, Detroit's latest offer rang in at five years with an average annual worth of approximately $35 million.
That's nearly $13 million less than what both Thunder stars are set to make in AAV.
Along with Orlando's Paolo Banchero, Chet and J-Dub set the standard for soon-to-be fifth-year All-Stars when it comes to their rookie extensions, and the Pistons are by no means happy about it.
Thunder generally find themselves agreeing to steal of deals
Despite what the aforementioned highly priced forwards, as well as the $285 million man Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, may suggest, the Thunder generally find themselves agreeing to terms on highly affordable deals with their players.
Whether it's through them shying away from the all-too-popular player options on most occasions or landing diamond-in-the-rough talents late in the NBA Draft process, Sam Presti and company have made it somewhat of the norm to fill out the vast majority of their championship-contending roster with incredibly affordable contracts.
Perhaps the most notable talent attached to such a deal is third-year guard Ajay Mitchell, who the folks at The Score just recently branded as one of the 10 best bargains in the entire association, though from Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace to Jaylin Williams, there are plenty more talents on this roster that deserve consideration for such a label.
So while Detroit's Trajan Langdon and even New York's Leon Rose find themselves at a crossroads with trying to duck under the second apron while simultaneously retaining their star-caliber players, Presti's Thunder already seem to have figured out a foolproof plan to avoid such hardships.
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