The latest rumor to touch the Boston Celtics and the Jaylen Brown saga is a potential sign-and-trade for disgruntled Pistons center Jalen Duren. Duren is just 22 years old and coming off a breakout, All-NBA season, in which he averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
But Duren cratered in the playoffs and now finds himself in a familiar but awkward restricted free agency stalemate with Detroit. The player clearly wants and thinks he deserves a max contract, while the Pistons are balking at that idea, and the two sides seem to be far apart on a contract.
So now, Duren is shopping himself around the league, trying to find teams that value him more than the Pistons, and gaining much-needed leverage to try to force his team’s hand. And that’s exactly where the Celtics come into play.
We heard the Celtics rumor floated almost a week ago, and now, as free agency officially has opened, it popped up again with Jake Fischer reporting on his Bleacher Report live stream that Duren and his camp are interested in a sign-and-trade deal which would send him to Boston.
While I believe Fischer and his intel, let’s think about this one logically for a second. Duren just wants to get paid. The more teams that he is connected to, the better the chances of that happening. He’s also drawing interest from the Kings and Lakers, two teams who actually seem intent on offering him a max.
Trade won't happen without Pistons' consent
But at the end of the day, Detroit still holds all the cards. They have the right to match any deal that Duren gets offered, and they would need to facilitate any sign-and-trade. They’ve indicated that they have no intentions of trading him, so to me, this seems like a pretty simple case of Duren going out and finding an offer he looks at, which the Pistons will then match, keeping the young star center in Detroit.
Is he frustrated with the Pistons? Perhaps. But the money will quickly fix that, and he’ll return to being the number 2 alongside Cade Cunningham on a team that just won 60 games. The Celtics have nothing close to max cap space and would need to send back Jaylen Brown or Derrick White to even make this work. Why would they do that? Why would they max a guy who was nearly unplayable in the playoffs?
And for Duren, why wouldn’t he want to go to Boston? They’ve developed bigs like Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta from G-Leaguers to starters and rotation players. I’m sure the team could do wonders for Duren, and he’d slot in as a young star on a good team in a good organization.
It makes perfect sense from his side, but again, right now, what makes sense for him is stirring up perceived interest, driving up his price, and getting the most amount of money he possibly can. Until we hear some tangible interest from the Pistons and Celtics, this is basically a non-story.
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