Jalen Duren is the latest free-agent straggler.Inside a league that is increasingly worried about expensive rosters, NBA teams are squeezing players who hit what purports to be the open market. Duren, a restricted free agent, is this summer’s personification of the trend.Organizations own the right of first refusal on restricted free agents, and because there is such consternation about high payrolls these days, they are deploying necessary leverage. With today’s rules, not many teams enter the offseason with cap space. The ones who do understand that extending an offer sheet to a player of Duren’s caliber is a fool’s errand, considering the Detroit Pistons would likely match it and bring him back, as is their right.A restricted free agent, the NBA’s most powerful oxymoron, is left in purgatory.Why Jalen Duren is still a free agentHunter Patterson and Jeshua KiddLast offseason, four restricted free agents (Cam Thomas, Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey and Quentin Grimes) lingered late into summer, just as Duren has done in 2026. (The Clippers’ Bennedict Mathurin and the Nuggets’ Peyton Watson are the other unsigned restricted free agents of note.) Three weeks after the start of free agency, Duren remains unsigned. Cap space around the league has dried up. The Pistons provide the greatest chance for him to receive his market value.Because he made All-NBA in 2025-26, he is eligible for a five-year, $287 million contract that would begin at 30 percent of the salary cap. But Duren, who averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on a No. 1 seed while earning All-NBA honors, certainly won’t earn that much, not given the circumstances around him. Front offices are worried about the punitive penalties that come with crossing the second apron, a payroll threshold far above the luxury tax. Surpass it, and a team loses its ability to execute most types of trades and most kinds of signings. Additionally, he had a disappointing playoffs, with his scoring, rebounding and shooting efficiency all notably dropping.But Duren and the Pistons need each other. More than likely, they will have to compromise. One executive believes he has discovered a fitting one.The Athletic polled 13 members of rival front offices, asking what they would consider a “fair” contract for Duren. Respondents spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation freely.The Pistons’ leverage is that no other team has the cap space to offer Duren a rich contract. But Duren’s leverage is that he can accept the qualifying offer, which would entail returning to Detroit on a one-year, $9.6 million contract and becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer, able to sign with whomever he’d like in 2027.“While Detroit might look like they have most of the leverage, given that there are no cap-space teams out there, they’re royally f—– if he takes the qualifying (offer) and walks next year,” one respondent to the poll said. “So, I think leverage is relatively even.”Two restricted free agents, Grimes and Thomas, accepted qualifying offers last offseason. Of course, they did not assume as much risk as Duren would. Detroit’s current offer to Duren is significantly higher than the Brooklyn Nets’ tiny offer was to Thomas. The Philadelphia 76ers didn’t extend a formal offer to Grimes.One executive believes he’s identified the fair deal for Duren and the Pistons: $204.5 million over five years.