00:00The Pistons' latest offer to restricted free agent Jalen Duren has something that is kind of uncommon in a NBA
00:09contract.
00:11They apparently have a monthly weight check-in.
00:18Pistons believe his weight was partly to blame.
00:24Came as a surprise to Duren and his camp.
00:28That claim came internally after Detroit's Game 7 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round,
00:34with league sources saying the organization privately wanted Duren to cut weight then.
00:43So, the story goes on to say weight clauses are uncommon in the NBA.
00:46They're not unheard of, and sometimes resemble incentives.
00:50Glenn Davis, remember Big Baby?
00:532008 NBA champion with Boston, had a weight clause in his 2009 contract.
00:58To return to the Celtics, the clause stated Davis would earn an extra $500,000 if he met unspecified weight
01:04and specific weigh-ins through the season.
01:07Unlike Duren, Davis had documented weight issues clocking in at 289 while standing 6 feet 9 inches tall.
01:14I mean, we remember the big O, Oliver Miller, when he was here.
01:18The big fella.
01:19During Langdon's time as New Orleans Pelicans GM from 2019 to 24, he was a key member of the team's
01:25front office that added a weight clause to Zion Williamson's five-year $197 million extension.
01:31I can see that.
01:33Story goes on to say,
01:36Duren's struggles in the 2026 postseason are an obvious factor in these talks.
01:42But league sources said the perception that the Pistons believed that weight was partly to blame came as a surprise.
01:47Yeah, I already read that part.
01:48Anyway, ah!
01:49Did you think that Jalen Duren looked heavy?
01:55Yes, but I think he always looks heavy.
01:57He looks rocked up.
01:58Do I think he looks overweight?
02:00Yeah, overweight or out of shape?
02:01I think he looks very heavy because he's a monster.
02:04Do I think he looks out of shape?
02:07I'd have to go look at pictures, comparative pictures, of him in the Cleveland series and him midseason, I guess.
02:16So I was in the locker room a lot in the playoffs this year.
02:21And I would say that my quick recollection is that's the last conclusion I would draw is that I thought
02:29that he was fat or out of shape or overweight or whatever you want to say.
02:33I mean, no, these guys are huge, but not necessarily in an overweight way.
02:43Yes, he's heavily muscled, and I think that's part of what we love about Jalen Duren is because he can
02:49be this big, intimidating guy.
02:51But it's not like he's a bodybuilder out there either.
02:56I mean, he's a big guy for an NBA player, but he doesn't look like he's overweight.
03:00I'm surprised that this is coming out about Jalen Duren.
03:05But if it's true and I could see him being upset, like, what are you talking about?
03:10Dude, I'm in great shape.
03:12I had a bad playoff.
03:13What are we doing here?
03:16So when I first saw Jalen Duren, he just got drafted by the Pistons.
03:20I've told this story before, Doug.
03:21You remember?
03:21Yep.
03:21I was at the airport.
03:23I'd just gotten back from Las Vegas, and it was in the middle of summer, and Jalen Duren happened to
03:28be landing in Detroit right after the draft.
03:30And I saw him as, like, a 17, 18-year-old kid, right?
03:34And he looked massive, like NBA massive.
03:36I've been on the floor.
03:38I've been in locker rooms, practices.
03:39I know what NBA players look like.
03:41He looked like already an NBA-type body, okay?
03:44Fast forward to four years now, and he's actually gained some muscle and weight in a good way because he's
03:48still growing, right?
03:50I watch those, like, behind-the-scenes Pistons things they do.
03:53You know, every team does them.
03:54It doesn't matter what sport.
03:55Lions, Red Wings, Pistons, NBA, they do them, okay?
03:58One of these episodes, I remember Jalen Duren was walking through the back, and players get all this food to
04:03eat, okay?
04:04And he admitted during this broadcast or during this taping that he had a candy problem, and he loved candy,
04:11okay?
04:12And he switched through the chef, the team chef, and the dietician said, hey, did you ever try eating grapes?
04:19And he started eating grapes and loved it, and he switched to grapes, and that's how he stopped eating so
04:23much candy.
04:24Now, I'm not saying he has a weight issue or ever had one, but maybe there's this cutting this off
04:28right from the beginning, from the Pistons.
04:30Because when I saw this weight clause, I thought of that immediately, how Jalen Duren loved candy, but he switched
04:34to grapes, which is a good thing, by the way.
04:36But maybe the Pistons are just, hey, let's just put this clause in there just in case my man goes
04:40back to eating Skittles, you know what I mean?
04:44And just eat these red grapes instead.
04:46Have you seen it?
04:47You'll see him walk into the practice or walk through whatever.
04:50He'll have grapes in hand because he loves grapes now.
04:52So anyways, that just made me think of why they put the weight clause in there.
04:54That's why, guys.
04:55Well, if he's willing to make that kind of change, that tells me he'd be willing to, that he's got
05:03an eye on his health.
05:04He's got an eye on it.
05:05It's part of his decision making.
05:08I mean, you watch the way certain position groups eat.
05:11And, you know, I remember being around a team once where a player said, season's over.
05:17Finally, we can have dessert.
05:19And, you know, so there's things that go on that, you know, to try and control these things and get
05:25the optimal performance out of a player.
05:27If I hope it's a weight problem.
05:32I hope he simply got too heavy in the postseason.
05:34You know how much easier that is to fix than you just suck when the postseason goes around?
05:40It's a lot easier to fix a weight problem.
05:44So, you know.
05:46I don't know.
05:47I have a hard time thinking that if he's back on the Twix bars, that that's what causes him to
05:53miss shots by the cylinder.
05:55You know what I mean?
05:58Maybe it's just he doesn't get the rise he got during the regular season.
06:02Whatever.
06:02He did look like his feet were stuck in cement many times during that playoff run.
06:06Like, he just didn't have the lift maybe that he had during the regular season.
06:08And I'm not saying it's due to weight struggles.
06:10But also, I'm not in that locker room.
06:12And I'm not, you know, with him at practice either.
06:14I don't know what he's doing.
06:16He looks great.
06:17I know, right?
06:18Look at him.
06:18He looks like Adonis.
06:19It's like, they've crafted him out of, you know, chiseled out of stone is what he looks like.
06:26But if this reporting is true, and by the way, all the reporting on the Duren contract, there hasn't been
06:34a denial from the other side at all.
06:36So, it's probably true.
06:38Well, I mean, I'm not going to say that.
06:42I mean, they haven't said anything.
06:44So, I can't say anything.
06:45It's probably just all this is reporting.
06:47And the Pistons haven't said anything either.
06:50Nobody's saying anything.
06:51Everybody's having to try to do their own investigations.
06:53And nobody's attributing anything to an actual source.
06:58You know, it's just.
06:59League sources.
07:00Yeah, exactly.
07:00But it's not like a person that they're actually naming so that you can say, oh, I mean, the assistant
07:06GM of the Pistons said this or whatever.
07:08Easy, easy.
07:09Well, that's my point.
07:10That's my point, is that all this reporting goes on without any real attribution.
07:15And nobody, we're all left to speculate because Monday is media day.
07:20Is he going to be there?
07:22I don't know.
07:23I mean, Langdon's going to be there.
07:24He's going to have to speak.
07:25And guess what he's going to have to talk about?
07:27If they don't get something done this weekend, he's going to have to talk about Jalen Duren on Monday.
07:32And Jalen Duren has until October 1st.
07:35Which is next Thursday.
07:36Which is Thursday.
07:38To accept the qualifying offer for the Pistons for whatever it is, nine and a half million dollars.
07:45So, I mean, things are getting tight here.
07:48I guess.
07:48I mean, the one thing I will say is, you're right.
07:50Nobody said anything publicly.
07:51I think if this reporting was wrong, somebody from Duren's camp would have reached out to the athletic and said
07:56to Hunter Patterson, hey, this ain't true.
07:59And then they'd have a story.
08:00Sources close to the situation would deny it because, you know, you're right.
08:06And to be fair, we haven't heard anything.
08:08And that's very responsible of you and you are correct.
08:12I just find it hard to believe that there'll be this much misreporting and they wouldn't even reach out to
08:17deny it.
08:18Well, I think it's obvious this is going one of two ways.
08:21Either we're going to have an announcement next week, Jalen Duren has agreed to a five-year, $200 million contract
08:26extension with the Pistons.
08:28Or we're going to hear that Jalen Duren has accepted his qualifying offer and he'll become a free agent at
08:35the end of the season.
08:36And then, Katie, bar the door, here come a million other questions about that.
08:40Does he want to be here?
08:41Is he upset with the organization?
08:43What did the organization do to piss him off and all that?
08:45That's going to all flame up next week if it's the latter.
08:48If it's the former, if he agrees to it, then here's what's going to happen at a press conference.
08:52Yeah, we saw the report and we thought it was ridiculous and we were working hard behind the scenes with
08:56the Pistons.
08:57Pistons working with us and we were able to get a deal done.
08:59There's nothing, there's no animosity back and forth.
09:02We're ready to roll.
09:02All right, well, that's the latest on Jalen Duren, 248-539-9797.
09:07The Blitz thingy next here on Carson Anderson on 97.
