Jalen Duren Pushes Back On Idea He's Unhappy: 'i Want To Be A Detroit Piston For Life'

Jalen Duren's contract extension talks with Detroit dragged out all summer and right up to the Oct. 1 qualifying offer deadline. These were widely reported contentious talks that league sources at one point had described to NBC Sports as "noxious."

Jalen Duren said none of that came from him and — after signing a five-year, $200 million new deal that keeps him in Detroit — pushed back on the idea that there is any issue between him and the Pistons when he sat down in front of the media Sunday.

"There's been a lot of talk, speculation, false narratives around my name throughout the entire summer..." Duren said. "I've never spoken to anyone in the media, made any statements or comments about anything or everything that's been out there. So you can accept those as rumors....

"I am a Detroit Piston. I want to be a Detroit Piston for life. I want to give everything I got for this city and the fans... I want the city to know that I truly do believe in what we're building. I truly do believe in the players and the organization and the coaches that we have, and I want y'all to believe in me and my work ethic and my ability to want to grow as a man and a player."

Duren also talked about coming off some of the greatest highs of his career, but also a bitter taste about how things ended. Duren is coming off a breakout regular season where he averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, played high-level defense in the paint, and was at the heart of how Detroit bullied teams to 60 wins. He was named both an All-Star and All-NBA player.

Duren's lows came in the playoffs, where he struggled on both ends of the court, averaging 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and he had a negative plus/minus for the postseason. Duren owned that.

"It was humbling, I just need to get better..." he said. "I'm man enough to acknowledge my flaws, and I'm man enough to acknowledge that I'm not perfect. And I'm also man enough to get my ass in the gym and work on those things and get better. I'm not trying to run from anything."

While the postseason was rough, Duren is 22 years old, and pigeonholing him as a guy who cannot grow from his first real postseason experience would be a mistake.

Duren's contract issue is that he was a restricted free agent, a situation where the team has almost all the leverage in negotiations. Combine that with the playoff struggles, and the Pistons were looking to save money in a tax-apron world where they also have to pay Ausar Thompson (a new five-year, $155 million extension) and MVP-candidate Cade Cunningham. Finding a number both sides could accept took time and wasn't easy.

One thing professional athletes do very well is move on from rough situations and not get dragged down by them. Duren isn't mad about how it all went down.

"I never looked at it as a dreadful situation because people are going through way worse," Duren said. "We're talking about negotiating a lot of money. There's no way I could be upset with that."

Now he has his money and the Pistons are whole.