Jalen Duren’s restricted free agency saga with the Pistons was finally resolved on Thursday night, when he agreed to stay with Detroit on a new five-year, $200MM contract that’s reportedly full guaranteed, with no options.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, team owner Tom Gores reached out to Duren on Thursday to help close the deal. The 22-year-old big man reportedly felt disrespected by the way negotiations transpired, and Amick hears Gores “made a promise to Duren and his family that he would help provide a more positive Pistons experience.”

Despite the olive branch offering, Amick suggests there’s still some work to be done to mend fences between the two sides. The Pistons have had some concerns about Duren’s “commitment to conditioning,” per Amick, particularly over his first three seasons. Duren, meanwhile, believed Detroit was lowballing him in its initial contract offers — the Kings told him they viewed him as a max player when they met with him early in free agency, Amick notes.

Here’s more on Duren and his decision to re-sign with the Pistons:

• While the process may have been a little rocky, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic believes it worked out for the best in the end. The Pistons retained Duren on a long-term deal, and Duren got the payday he was seeking, even if it fell short of the maximum ($287MM) he was eligible to receive. As Patterson writes, Duren accepting his $9.6MM qualifying offer to hit unrestricted free agency next year would have been a disastrous outcome for Detroit and a massive risk for Duren. Patterson also thinks the Pistons are clearly the best on-court fit for Duren of the teams with known interest in him (the Bucks being another).
• The Pistons have made it clear they harbor no ill will towards Duren for missing the start of training camp, according to Omari Sankofa of The Detroit Free Press (subscriber link). “Negotiation is negotiation, so that’s all that’s going on right now,” president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said Monday. “I don’t hold anything against him or his group. We’re trying to put a team together. They’re trying to get their client paid the most money.” Still, the onus is on the rising young center to prove he’s worth his new contract after some fans were turned off by his camp’s public attempts at exerting leverage, Sankofa writes.
• Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Friday downplayed any notion of “bitterness” between the team and Duren, per Sankofa (Twitter video link). “I don’t know where that came from,” Bickerstaff. “It’s a negotiation. It’s business. There’s never been any bitterness between the group and how we feel about him and I know how he feels about us.” Bickerstaff also expressed enthusiasm about having Duren back on a long-term contract. “We’re obviously excited to have him back,” Bickerstaff said. “Like I said yesterday, our expectation was that he was always going to be back.“