walker kessler stinks and the jazz should just fall on the sword and keep him on a reasonable ²⁶⁄₄ contract to help the lakers out

Most likely gonna offer it to both if 1 matches

Lakers are telling every semi-competent big that they think he’s max worthy lol

The reverse jinx came too late, they just got Kessler

If Detroit doesnt play ball we might still come for Kessler. Weird circumstances all 3 teams Utah, Lakers, Pistons have and dont have leverage at the same time. Fragile dealings

Uh oh

Well, I think you got solid value out of him, if it helps? Plus the trade exemption, if I understand correctly

Oh no ….

He’s not even really available now.

the only one I can think of is Shaq when he left Orlando to LA. But yeah All-NBA players don’t hit the FAs after their first contract (tbf they also don’t have a playoffs like Duren did)

The situation is unique

Rarely does a player get accolades and stats so directly because of someone else

He’s a lob threat, everything else is theoretical even his defense more times than you’d want

But he shoots just enough middys that you can convince yourself its in his bag, but not enough that it wont look obviously dumb if his range doesn’t expand outside of under the basket

None of that would matter if he had some kind of a post game. If he had Jahlil Okafor’s footwork we wouldn’t be having this discussion

They don’t, but teams would be dumb to not make an attempt to raise his price for Detroit.

Shaq

When they show multiple seasons in a row that they are unserious about competing. Duren was a full blown embarrassment in the playoffs.

He isn’t, Detroit will match whatever is offered

Smartest comment here!

Pistons should let him walk for that number. Lakers would be ass with that big 3

i hope they offer it to him so detroit is really put under pressure to match or let him walk. this all seems like a game of chicken so far. duren’s agent saying he has max offers and pistons daring him to bring them a max offer sheet.

Do they? Because if that were the case, Duren would already be signed with the Pistons. Their local sources (beat writers and fans) all seem to think the FO wants him back for low to mid 30s a year at most.

The pistons are probably hoping they are going to pay them 2 first round picks for sign and trade. Otherwise they’ll just overpay and keep him 

Yes

Well there’s some new irony now in lieu of the center the Lakers got.

Kings can’t offer him anything if Detroit doesn’t play ball

Only the Lakers can do that and I hope they do for the chaos.

If the Pistons were willing to give him the max he can get from other teams, I think he’d be signed already. Looking at their team sub and team mouthpieces’ reporting, I think they’re hesitant to bring him back at anything over 30 M AAV.

The players association really can’t be happy with the way teams are treating their RFA’s these past few years.

It’s a terrible approach with two sub-max quality players out of three, in the new 2nd apron era, and with Reaves and Luka so heavily overlapping. Like, even if all credit for Luka being a Laker goes to Rob (and not the fired Nico), that’s a firable roster construction approach

Awful roster construction. I hope they do it but I doubt he’ll be a laker 

Eh there’s a good chance they don’t match it. Which should be even more scary to Lakers fans.

Wdym. Pistons matching the offer is a win for Duren’s camp. That would mean he gets a pay raise from potential \(30M to around \)40M

They must see something we don’t. Can’t be any worse than Ayton

I think they’d need a few years worth of exception players and draft picks to get to a contender. Still a much better base than what they have now or what they’d have if they ran their team back.

They do have some bad salary for making trades too. Like $25m between Ayton, Vando, Knecht and LaRavia. Those guys have no value but they can be used to match salary.

Can they even offer him Max after the Reaves deal and with what Luka makes??? Don’t think its possible and it would be a second apron move that would require a matching salary in a S&T

Hope not its well past time to just blow it up

Yeah poor guy will probably be upset for 4 years while making millions of dollars. I hope he can move on from that 

It’s just negotiations. Detroit holds all of the power. Duren’s camp is trying to generate anything they can. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Duren wasn’t even involved in any of this - off on vacation while his agent handles getting him the best deal.