Pistons’ Jalen Duren doesn’t regret going through contract dispute with Detroit after stalemate

Pistons’ Jalen Duren doesn’t regret going through contract dispute with Detroit after stalemate originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Detroit Pistons have done a great job of building great young talent around one another. Last season, Detroit was the best team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, speaking volumes to the amount of talent that is already on the roster. 

This entire summer has been a bad contract situation with Jalen Duren, but there was finally a resolution. The All-Star re-signed with the Pistons after months of negotiations.

“All-NBA and All-Star center Jalen Duren has agreed to sign a five-year, $200 million fully guaranteed contract to return to the Detroit Pistons, agent Chafie Fields of THE•TEAM tells ESPN. This ends a prolonged restricted free agency dispute between the two sides,” ESPN’s Shams Charania posted.

On Sunday, Duren had a press conference to introduce himself after signing and clearing some things up after all that has transpired. He admitted that his postseason performance humbled him.

“The way the season ended was humbling. I need to get better. I looked in the mirror and realized I do need to get better. I’m man enough to acknowledge my flaws and to get my a** in the gym and get better,” Duren said. “I’m not running from anything because I know I will make it better.”

However, as the press conference continued to go on, he was asked if he wished things went differently. Duren mentioned that he didn’t regret how anything went this past summer.

“I’m a firm believer that it was already written… everything that I had been through was for a purpose. And I truly believe… it was to make me better. I had to go through some of these things, the good, the bad, the ugly to be able to make me the man that I would become,” Duren stated.

The Pistons and Duren are working on their relationship, but him making those comments makes it very interesting to see how things go. On the good side, he was being honest about how he felt after the saga ended. 

Most would think after all of the drama, the All-Star would have wanted some things to go differently. This entire situation gets more and more interesting as it continues to play out. For now, there is no regrets from Duren and his long stalemate with Detroit.

More NBA news: