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1 hour ago
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Jalen Duren knows Jonathan Kuminga's pain.
Last offseason, restricted free agency made things particularly tough for Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors. Now, it's having a similar effect on Duren with the Detroit Pistons.
Yes, Duren is going to make more money on whatever contract he gets than Kuminga did, but the idea is the same.
These are players who want more money than they're being offered by their original team, and restricted free agency isn't the market it used to be.
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In the NBA, a restricted free agent can be given an offer sheet by any team in the league. The original team can match it, though.
In the past, that meant a team who really wanted a player would hand out an outlandish offer sheet, and the original team might not match.
Now, teams don't want to waste their time giving offer sheets to players who they might not get, knowing that all the while, plenty of unrestricted free agents are signing elsewhere.
It has led to a lot of settling in recent seasons -- Quentin Grimes with the 76ers last offseason was another example.
It also leads to games of chicken, where the original team just sits back and watches.
I have a dumb question:
If Jalen Duren is eligible for a 5/287 deal with the Pistons, and the most another team can offer is 4/177, why WOULDN'T the Pistons WANT another team to sign him to an offer sheet so they can just match and save 110 million and an extra year?
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Teams are always going to find different ways to work in whatever system exists, so this isn't necessarily making the case for changing any rules.
It's just pointing out that being an RFA isn't what it used to be.
Duren might have to settle, at some point, because the system doesn't quite help him out the way it could.
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