The Los Angeles Lakers need to upgrade at center this summer, and Lakers fans have been monitoring the Jalen Duren situation in Detroit for months. Duren is a restricted free agent this offseason, which means that a non-Pistons team (the Lakers?!) will have the chance to throw a gargantuan offer at Duren that Detroit doesn't want to match.
But that's the main issue for the Lakers -- they likely won't have the monstrous cap space needed to outbid the Pistons for Duren, not like, say, the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls do. Most of LA's money will be tied up in signing Austin Reaves to a new max deal and retaining LeBron James. The Lakers also have needs on the wing.
There's another, related problem for LA in its pursuit of Duren -- the Pistons really want to re-sign Duren this summer. Contrary to some recent buzz (which turned out to be more imaginary than realistic) that a poor Duren performance in the playoffs might convince Detroit's brass to move on from Duren this offseason, Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon made it crystal clear during his exit interview on Tuesday that Detroit is 110% in on retaining Duren moving forward.
Pistons PBO Trajan Langdon just announced that Detroit is fully committed to re-signing Jalen Duren
“JD had a fantastic season," Langdon said of Duren. "[He was] one of the biggest contributors to us being a No. 1 seed … We look forward to coming together with his representation, getting a deal done, and for him continuing to be a Piston.”
Lakers fans everywhere clenched their fists at these words from Langdon, but were they really that surprising? Duren is a 22-year-old rising asset in this league who made the All-Star team this year and has been an integral part of Detroit's rise into the Eastern Conference hierarchy. Moreover, Duren appears to have good chemistry with Pistons franchise player Cade Cunningham.
Lakers should get a head start on looking for trade alternatives to Jalen Duren
With Duren unattainable, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka would be wise to start looking for trade opportunities to bolster the center spot. Signing a center at this point is just going to result in too much money coming in without any going out; the Lakers can't afford that, for the reasons mentioned above. A better strategy would be to dangle some assets (including sign-and-trade possibilities like Rui Hachimura and/or Luke Kennard) out into the market and see if any starting-level centers emerge for sale.
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