Jalen Duren spent the back end of an overtime playoff thriller in a suit on the Detroit Pistons bench - and Stephen A. Smith said the 22-year-old centre is now paying for it at the negotiating table.
Duren did not play a single second of the fourth quarter or overtime as the Cleveland Cavaliers stole Game 5 in Detroit 117-113. JB Bickerstaff stuck with his closing group as Cade Cunningham tried to drag the Pistons home, and Duren - a regular-season All-Star averaging 19 and 10 - was the conspicuous name absent from the late lineup.
Asked on First Take whether Duren has played himself out of a max contract, Stephen A. did not need a follow-up.
"Hell yes," Stephen A. said. "He's young enough where he's able to say 'look at my upside, get the hell over it and give me my money.' He is young enough to bet have that argument. But he needs to understand that's the only argument he has, because the way that he has performed, he has been anemic to say the least."
The numbers backed him up. After averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds in the regular season and making his first All-Star team, Duren has hovered around 10 points a game in the second-round series and has been off the floor in crunch time of three of the five contests.
"This dude averaged 19 a game, was an All-Star, and you had 10 points a game - a virtual no-show. JB Bick doesn't even go to you in the fourth quarter," Stephen A. said. "That is very, very, very bad. He's going to get his paper because he deserves it. But it's not hard to make the long-term commitment to him because the upside is great. It is hard to make the long-term commitment at the numbers that he is going to want, because the numbers that he is going to want should be for a perennial All-Star who you can rely upon come postseason time, and he has not proven that yet."
Kendrick Perkins, who has spent the second round vouching for Detroit's young core, took the other side. He said he had voted Duren to his All-NBA Third Team ballot and that the Pistons front office should not flinch at a first-time playoff struggle.
"I disagree," Perkins said. "First of all, he's probably going to make an All-NBA team. I voted him third team All-NBA. Probably going to make one of those squads. On the flip side of it, if I'm the front office of the Detroit Pistons, I'm not overreacting to this moment of Jalen Duren. This is his first experience. He has mentally checked out - not because he wants to, it's just because this is what the playoffs will do to you as a young player."
Perkins argued the issue is not talent or commitment but role. With the Pistons asking him to function as a 'certified Robin' to Cunningham, the scouting report has caught up with him.
"They're asking him to be on the biggest stage a number two option," Perkins said. "That scouting report gets a lot thicker in the postseason. So now all of a sudden what it does is it makes you go back to the lab. It makes JB start the regular season next year and be a focal point. Not just utilising him in pick and rolls and lobs... but actually getting in the lab and having running isolation and getting him post-ups where he feels comfortable enough throughout the regular season, and come postseason he knows what to expect. This is nothing but growing pains. I believe he's going to get better from this. I think he's 22, maybe 21 years of age. His upside is tremendous. You will never question his physicality. It's just at this moment, the moment has been too big for him."
Stephen A. partially conceded. He said Perkins was 'absolutely right' that the Pistons should not slam the door, only that Detroit's offer will not include the supermax number Duren was on track for in February.
"He's 22 years of age, 6-foot-10 at age 22 with an NBA body, just finished averaging 19 and 10. Perk is not wrong," Stephen A. said. "I'm just making the point that when you don't perform the way that he did not perform in this postseason and you then thereafter go to the negotiating table, make no mistake, they're going to try to sort of curb the commitment."
The contrast inside the same playoff bracket made the takes sting harder. Stephen A. and Perkins spent the back half of the segment picking three players whose stock had risen this postseason. Perkins's top three: Victor Wembanyama, Karl-Anthony Towns and Thunder rookie Ajay Mitchell. Stephen A. swapped Towns for OG Anunoby, citing the Knicks wing's 21-point average on 61.9% shooting from the field and 53.8% from three across eight playoff games.
"OG Anunoby - you could argue he's been one of the best, if not the best player on the floor in any series throughout these playoffs," Stephen A. said.
Duren's name, notably, did not come up on either list.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/jalen-duren-max-contract-stephen-a-perk-pistons-cavs-overtime-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
