The Victors

Detroit offered Duren 5 years 190M (jesus, that's not enough cash? And then you extend in 3 years when you're all of 25 years old. Anyway.)

Some dumb team might pay him $45M a year or whatever next year when he's an unrestricted free agent, but he would have to play this year at just $9.6M - $29M less than if he took the pistons offer. So it's not even necessarily more money in the 5 year period if he goes that route.

I'd keep calling his bluff (he has until 10/31 to sign or something like that). Who's going to turn down $190M and risk their entire future on one season? Big men get hurt - bad - all the time.

But with the new aprons you just can't overpay these second tier guys. OKC had to shed a bunch of very good players, but their core 3 (SGA, Holmgren, Jalen Williams) are all top level superstars.

Detroit can compete with this roster, if Duren takes a step and shows up in the playoffs, if Ausar develops some offense (even if his shot never happens), if Holland turns out), but they have way less room for error than OKC, or SA.

Ausar is going to want to be paid like his brother ($42M/yr), but Amen is much better on offense and nearly as good on D. Ausar will have to earn it on the court this year if he wants even close to that. If Holland takes a leap, Ausar might even be trade bait - they're very similar players. But Holland has a long way to go to be as valuable as a DPOTY candidate. Making shots would really really help!