Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren are both approaching the October 20 deadline to sign contract extensions with the Pistons. With that clock ticking down, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press examines several deals that could set the market for both players’ going rates.
Sankofa notes that the two young players had stretches of excellent play, but due to Ivey’s mid-season injury and Duren’s slow start, there are still questions that revolve around both players’ long-term value to the organization.
Sankofa looks at Josh Giddey and his recent four-year, $100 million extension with the Bulls as a good measuring stick deal for Duren and Ivey. He also looks at **Jabari Smith Jr.**‘s five-year, $122 million extension as well as **Alperen Sengun**‘s five-year, $185 million deal with the Rockets, and **Trey Murphy III**‘s four-year, $112 million extension with the Pelicans as potential inflection points for the two Pistons players.
While this summer was hard for restricted free agents, next summer is set to have many more teams with cap space, which Sankofa says could convince one or both of Ivey and Duren to play out the season without a new deal to explore the marketplace.
We have more from the Pistons:
Having a full offseason could pay off major benefits for Ivey as he recovers from his injury, but also, and maybe even more so, for Ausar Thompson, writes Hunter Patterson for The Athletic. Patterson notes that after missing last summer while recovering from a blood clot, conditioning was an occasional issue for the hard-playing Thompson. He believes that having a summer to reach maximum conditioning while carrying over momentum from an encouraging playoff series against the Knicks could pay major dividends in terms of his development. Patterson is also encouraged by the synergy displayed between Thompson and franchise cornerstone Cade Cunningham, believing that the athletic wing and versatile point guard have games that blend together very effectively.
The Pistons jumped from 14 wins to 44 wins last season and were rewarded with the sixth seed. While there is less room for such dramatic win total changes this season, Patterson predicts the team can take the next step and become the fourth or fifth seed in the East this season, though he believes the Magic’s trade for Desmond Bane will give them the edge over the Pistons.
Pistons president Trajan Langdon is aware of the pressure coming off such an unexpectedly dramatic turnaround, but he’s not going to rush the team’s growth, writes Keith Langlois for NBA.com. Instead, Langdon is prioritizing building the right way and expecting results to follow from that blueprint. He notes that the Pistons could have tried to push some chips in for a big move this summer in light of the uncertainty surrounding teams like the Pacers, Celtics, Bucks, and Sixers, but instead chose to make moves on the margin that would enhance the young core of the team. Because of that, Langlois writes that for Langdon, success will likely be judged more on the growth of the young core, both individually and as a group, rather than strictly by wins added.