Given Jonathan Kuminga was unwilling to take the qualifying offer with the Golden State Warriors last year, was Jalen Duren really going to take that approach when he had $200 million sitting on the table from the Detroit Pistons?
That question has been answered as an emphatic 'no' after the young center ended this offseason's long-running free agency stalemate, signing a five-year, $200 million contract that ties him to the Pistons for at least the time being.
Jalen Duren reaches contract realization Jonathan Kuminga had with Warriors
Duren took it down to the wire as the deadline for the $9.6 million qualifying offer approached on Thursday night. But while he tried to bluff and use the qualifying offer as leverage with the threat of unrestricted free agency next year, the 22-year-old was never going to turn down the chance at $200 million -- no one in their right mind would.
This subsequently ends another restricted free agency drama where, once again, the qualifying offer ultimately didn't come into play. The Warriors had held their nerve last offseason, eventually getting Kuminga on a contract that was on their terms after months of negotiations and sign-and-trade offers from the likes of the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns.
Kuminga actually cost himself money in the end, turning down the opportunity of two guaranteed years at nearly $50 million, The young forward took a second-year team option to try and take control of his destiny sooner, but that only resulted in the Atlanta Hawks declining his $24.3 million team option and subsequently being forced to take less in free agency this year.
Kuminga wound up settling for a two-year, $12.4 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves this offseason, hoping now to rehabilitate his value with the possibility of opting out and diving into free agency again next year.
Pistons may have just overpaid Jalen Duren
As much as the Pistons called Duren's bluff on the qualifying offer, this is hardly a loss for the All-Star center who just secured a life-changing amount of money. Taking $200 million certainly isn't a case of Duren settling even if he wanted to move on, and there's an argument to be made that this is a major overpay based on his lack of impact during the playoffs.
The real question becomes whether Duren is motivated enough to improve on his first All-Star year and All-NBA Third Team selection, and whether he can iron out some of the definciencies we saw during the postseason.
The concern now for the Pistons is that if the relationship is too far gone and Duren doesn't enter the season motivated, they may be stuck with a huge contract that, unlike the Warriors with Kuminga last season, is going to be very hard to move in a trade.
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