JALEN Duren

Duren's 2025-26 line was the case for the contract. He played 70 games and averaged 28.2 minutes, 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, with 2.0 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks. He shot 65.0 percent from the field and 74.7 percent from the line, with a true shooting mark of 68.8 percent on 23.1 percent usage. He did not attempt threes, finishing at 0.0 percent from deep. His plus-minus was 6.9. Turnovers sat at 1.9 a game. Those were last season's figures with Detroit, and they describe a center who scores inside, finishes at a high rate and controls the glass without needing the ball a lot. The free throw number matters too. At 74.7 percent, he is not a late-game liability at the line.

Duren has played in three games this season and the Pistons won all three. On October 14 against Minnesota he scored 24 points with 3 rebounds in just 15.1 minutes, a plus-2.0 night. On October 16 against Toronto he had 14 points and 3 rebounds in 20.3 minutes and was plus-6.0. On October 20 against Boston he went for 22 points and 9 rebounds in 28.0 minutes, with a minus-1.0 on the floor in a game Detroit still won. The minutes have climbed each game. The rebounding came around against the Celtics after two low totals. The scoring has been there from the start. He did not appear in the October 5 game against Phoenix or the October 10 loss to Washington.

Duren is not on the injury report right now. He got there through a bumpy preseason. On September 29 he was listed day-to-day, not injury related. He was cleared October 2, then went back to day-to-day on October 3 with an undisclosed issue, and was day-to-day again October 5 marked as rest. He was cleared for good on October 15, one day after his first game of the season against Minnesota. The two games he missed on October 5 and October 10 line up with that stretch. None of it was labeled as a basketball injury. Since the clearance he has played three straight games and his minutes have gone from 15.1 to 20.3 to 28.0, which is the arc of a player being eased back to a full load.

Duren's last five games of 2025-26 all came against Cleveland in May. Detroit lost four of them. He scored 11 points with 4 rebounds in the May 9 loss, 8 points and 2 rebounds in the May 11 loss, and 9 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the May 13 loss. The Pistons won on May 15 behind his 15 points and 11 rebounds, then lost May 17 when he had 7 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. His plus-minus in the four losses ran from minus-12.0 to minus-18.0. Those games were a step down from his regular-season production. The front office signed him anyway, which says it judged the whole 70-game season and not one series.

The notes columns have kept Duren's name in circulation through October. An October 13 Pistons notes piece from Hunter Patterson covered Duren, Collins, Thompson and Smith. An October 3 Central Division roundup grouped Duren with Oubre, the Pacers and J. Smith. These are notebook items, not trade talk, and nothing reported suggests Duren is going anywhere after the new deal. The story in Detroit right now is a 22-year-old center with a five-year contract, a clean bill of health and three wins in his three appearances. The next step is whether the 28.0 minutes against Boston become the standard and whether the 10.5 rebounds a game from last season come back with them.