It's no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers will be shopping for a center this summer, and Detroit Pistons' Jalen Duren has to be near the top of their list. Lakers fans were actually rooting against Duren and the Pistons in these playoffs, with hopes that a Detroit flameout (and/or a bad playoffs for Duren) would make Duren more available this coming offseason.
There was a little bit of both those things, but not quite to the extreme degree that Lakers fans were hoping for. While the Pistons did bow out before the Eastern Conference Finals, they did win seven playoff games and proved that they're a serious East contender moving forward. Duren, meanwhile, did underperform during these playoffs (10.2 PPG and 8.5 RPG compared to his regular-season 19.5 and 10.5), and he did get severely outplayed by Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen in Game 7 (on the Pistons' home floor, no less), but Duren wasn't altogether awful during the playoffs.
Certainly not awful enough that the Pistons won't strongly consider bringing Duren back, even if it's not at the type of gigantic number that a dominant postseason for Duren would have garnered.
Jalen Duren linked to Lakers at $35 million per season ... but there's a catch.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic suggested directly following Detroit's Game 7 loss that Duren could still fetch something in the realm of $30-$35 million per season on his new deal this summer. Vecenie also had fun with a theoretical in which the Lakers decided not to re-sign LeBron James this offseason and used the resulting cap space to sign Duren for the above number.
There are two takeaways from Vecenie's take here. 1) Duren didn't harm his value in the playoffs as much as some people think, seeing as he's bound to have a suitor paying him $30 million-plus a year to pry him away from the Pistons. Keep in mind, by the way, that the Pistons can match any offer sheet that Duren gets this summer and retain him (he's a restricted free agent). And 2) the Lakers aren't going to be able to sign Duren! Because they are bound to re-sign LeBron!
Jalen Duren's dollar figure doesn't align with Lakers' offseason
The myth of the Lakers' cap space (they actually don't have much if they re-sign LeBron and Austin Reaves) will prevent LA from snagging Duren this offseason, plain and simple. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has to pivot in another direction at center. A trade might be the move.
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