00:00All right, Kang, I want your take on this.
00:03Mark Stein from the Stein line covers the NBA said this regarding a restricted free agent in Denver named Peyton
00:10Watson.
00:11League sources say Peyton Watson, like Detroit's Jalen Duren, has been weighing the unappealing prospect of playing out the 26
00:20-27 season, the coming season, on a qualifying offer with the intent of becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer.
00:28Actually doing so, mind you, means leaving millions on the table.
00:34So these are two restricted free agents.
00:38When you are a restricted free agent, that means any offer, you are a free agent to go get any
00:43offer you want from any team.
00:45But the team you currently are with can simply match that offer and gets to keep you.
00:54Or the team that you are currently with can sign you for more years and more money than any team
01:01that offers you a free agent deal.
01:05So the Pistons have made an offer that's believed to be four years and north of $30 million.
01:10They could have offered him five years and like $48 million, whatever it was.
01:16Duren's not happy.
01:17He goes out to the open market to seek a better offer.
01:21And none emerges.
01:24So when you are a restricted free agent, you can also accept a one-year qualifying offer.
01:29The rules state, you don't have to take the Pistons' long-term deal, but you get a qualifying offer, which
01:38in his case is $9.6 million.
01:40And that number, I believe, is set by the league.
01:44So he can take a $9.6 million qualifying offer and play out one year at $9.6 million, turn
01:52down the Pistons' four-year, $120, $130, $140 million offer, whatever it is, and just play for $9 million, and
02:00then go on the open market and sign with whoever he wants.
02:05Kang, I want your take on this.
02:08I think this is the last chip that Jalen Duren and his camp can play is, hey, I'll play on
02:14the qualifying offer, and you won't even have a shot at me next year.
02:18And I think it's a chip that's not going to be used because I think the Pistons will call him
02:24on that and say, okay, then you're not going to take $100-plus million guaranteed.
02:30You're going to bet on yourself because I don't understand what the camp during camp is coming from as far
02:38as this isn't your last contract, especially if you really believe in yourself.
02:42If you really believe in yourself, you're going to be only 26 years old in four years when you can
02:49play for another contract or 25 if it's an extension, right?
02:55I understand that he's upset, and this is not exactly what he had envisioned when he entered free agency, whether
03:01that's from his agent, his management, whatever, or himself, a combination of everything.
03:06This is how it's turned out, though, and I think you don't want to make things worse for yourself.
03:12I think whatever the Pistons are offering, and it's got to be north of $30-plus million per year, is
03:17still a really good number.
03:19$9.6 million, that's a huge gap of risk-reward.
03:25You know what I'm saying?
03:25I think the risk-reward is just not there.
03:28If you ask me, I don't know how much feelings got hurt in this situation, Doug.
03:33That's going to play a role, I feel like, and I hope it doesn't, and I hope that's why this
03:37is taking so long.
03:38You know, take your time.
03:39Don't make any rash decisions.
03:41Apparently, this could last all the way up to the beginning of camp.
03:45If I'm Jalen Duren, if I'm in his team, I'm telling him to take the long-term extension, which is
03:51four years, and then play for your next contract there.
03:55So, the flaw in the thinking of playing on the qualifying offer and then going into free agency is you
04:06were just a restricted free agent, and you didn't get any better offers.
04:12Then the one, the Pistons gave you.
04:18Are you sure that a year from now, you'll get a better offer?
04:23Everybody could have offered you.
04:25Now, the Pistons could have matched it, and maybe teams didn't want to do the negotiating for the Pistons.
04:31But you went into the open market and said, okay, take your four years and $30 million, or whatever it
04:37is, roughly in those numbers, $30 million a year, and shove it.
04:41I'm going to go out in the open market and get a better offer.
04:43Did you get that better offer?
04:45Well, no.
04:46So, you play on the qualifying offer for one year, and maybe you have a phenomenal year.
04:54But you're also running the risk, aren't you, that you'll go into the open market and again to get no
04:58better offer.
05:01Now, it's betting on yourself to go out and have a monster season.
05:04But you just tried this, and it didn't work.
05:11So, the truth is, what the Pistons are doing is so fiscally responsible.
05:16They are not outbidding themselves.
05:22Nobody else offered more than this.
05:25And you want to take care of your guys, and you want them to be happy.
05:30But honestly, I don't know if the agent's to blame here, creating an unrealistic expectation.
05:40Doesn't the market tell you what you're worth?
05:44And the NBA has responded to Jalen Duren being a restricted free agent and said,
05:48well, you're not worth more than four years, $120 million.
05:55Now, maybe the bidding would be different if he is unrestricted.
05:59But that seems to me like a really risky play by Jalen Duren.
06:08248-539-9797.
06:10Again, Mark Stein reporting that Peyton Watson, the restricted free agent from Denver,
06:15and Jalen Duren, the restricted free agent from Detroit, are both weighing,
06:19playing out this coming season on the qualifying offer.
06:22In Duren's case, it would be $9.6 million for one year.
06:25Instead of he could get $30 million this year, and the next year, and the next year, and the next
06:28year.
06:30But he might be that motivated to become a restricted free agent.
06:36And if that's the case, you know, the problem with it, if that's the case, then he's really mad.
06:45He's really mad at Detroit, and this might not be a great year.
06:49But he'll only be hurting himself.
06:51Yeah, exactly.
06:51So he's still going to play for his teammates and for himself.
06:53Now, he might be mad at upper management, and that's fine.
06:56But the positive side is, if you're a Pistons fan, and if he does accept a qualifying offer
07:01and not a long-term extension, is one, like you just mentioned,
07:04he's going to play his ass off to get his next contract.
07:06And two is, you just got freed up a bunch of money.
07:10You can go make a big trade.
07:11You can go in the offseason and offer the biggest free agent contract to whoever, you know, is available.
07:16So, yeah, they don't want to lose Jalen Dern.
07:20The organization does not want to lose Jalen Dern.
07:22But if they do, now you have a lot more money to go elsewhere
07:24because they're going to have to pay Asar Thompson soon, too.
07:27248-539-9797.
07:29It's Carson Anderson, 97.1.
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