Detroit Pistons: Jalen Duren Finishes In 2nd Place For Most Improved Player

All week long, the NBA gradually revealed bits and pieces of various awards that combine to tell the story of the 2025-26 regular season campaign. Early on, the league crowned Victor Wembanya as the premier defensive threat in the NBA with a runaway finish in the voting, which meant that Ausar Thompson would have to wait another year before challenging for the Defensive Player of the Year Award. 

After that, the league rolled out their winners for Clutch Player of the Year (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and Sixth Man of the Year (Keldon Johnson) before handing out the Sportsmanship Award to Derrick White on Thursday. With those pieces of individual hardware out of the way, Pistons center Jalen Duren could finally find out if he’d done enough throughout the year to earn the right as the Most Improved Player in the league. 

Based on the voting, Duren finished in second place for the award with 254 points overall, which fell 142 points short of Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s first place total. JD did earn 23 votes to win the award out of the 100 cast, so Duren was responsible for just below a quarter of all first place votes this year. 

Considering his regular season performance, Duren averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game as a walking double-double down low for the Pistons during the rise to the top of the Eastern Conference. Detroit’s success in the regular season was largely predicated on Duren’s ability to serve as the Pistons’ secondary scorer on nights where Cade Cunningham’s shot isn’t falling, and the big man also flashed a mightily improved handle in open-court situations. Cunningham and Duren worked together seamlessly in the pick and roll, and their two-man combo provided the lion’s share of Detroit’s production during the season. 

Last year, Duren was still impactful during his third pro season with 11.8 points and 10.3 boards per game, but the Memphis product took a noticeable leap forward this season on the offensive end while staying true to his rebounding and defensive responsibilities along the way. As a result, JD elevated his performance enough to make the All-Star Game this season, and he's kept his elite efficiency while making even more of a dent on the scoresheet. 

Since Duren didn’t win the Most Improved Player Award, the Pistons were effectively shut out of the early portion of the NBA’s award season since Thompson finished in third place behind Wemby for DPOY, but there is still an opportunity for Detroit to earn some individual hardware. J.B. Bickerstaff is considered to be in a two-man race with Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics for the Coach of the Year Award, though Mitch Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs is also in contention for the honor. 

Bickerstaff and the Pistons will return to playoff action tomorrow afternoon for game two of their first round series against the Orlando Magic with the matchup tied 1-1. 

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