From the onset of the 2025-26 campaign, the Detroit Pistons knew they would need a larger contribution from center Jalen Duren as he entered his fourth season in the NBA, and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff impressed that much upon JD in the lead-up to the regular season.

During that time, Bickerstaff explained to Duren that his size and strength creates significant mismatches for the Pistons in the post, and the team needed to utilize his skill set on a more consistent basis. So, the Memphis product took that encouragement to heart and delivered one of the most efficient seasons in league history over the past 50 years. 

In fact, Duren joined some Hall of Fame company with his impactful blend of both volume and efficiency. 

This past season, Duren was able to tip-toe along a basketballing high-wire as he increased his production from 11.8 points per game all the way to 19.5 points each night while maintaining a blistering 65% field goal rate. Usually players sacrifice a degree of economics when their usage elevates by 4.5 shots per game, but Duren found a way to continue scoring at well-above the league-wide rate for the Pistons. 

When comparing Duren’s All-Star campaign to that of Chamberlain’s 59 years prior, it is important to note that Wilt actually saw a marked decrease in his usage during the 1966-67 season. For the first time in his career, Chamberlain averaged less than 20 shots per game and took exactly 11 shots a night less than he did the season before for the Philadelphia 76ers. However, that reality paints Chamberlain’s dominance in a special light when it is considered that the basketball legend still put up 24 points and 24 rebounds per game en route to winning his third MVP award along with his first NBA Championship. 

Now, another element that separates Duren from Wilt the Stilt comes into play at the charity stripe. Last season, Duren connected on just under 67% of his free throw attempts, but the Detroit big man has lifted his shooting to 74.7%, which is important considering JD took twice as many attempts compared to the year prior. Chamberlain, on the other hand, notoriously struggled from the free throw line and shot just 44.1% during his historic 1967 season. 

The game of basketball has evolved so much since Chamberlain’s day, so it’s difficult to truly compare the two players in any meaningful fashion, but Duren’s ability to put himself in a statistical category alongside Wilt speaks for itself. 

“First of all, he’s an awesome dude and he’s an unbelievable teammate,” Bickerstaff said on the Road Trippin Show in February. “That’s part of what we needed him to outgrow because we needed him to be more aggressive. He just wanted like, this is what you need me to do, I’m just going to do this. So, the conversation we had before last summer was it’s time for you to break free of that. You being offensive-minded and attack-minded, that’s only going to make the team better."

When Bickerstaff spoke, Duren listened. The result has helped propel the Pistons to the very top of the East, and they're now in position to rectify what they view as an abrupt exist from the postseason last year. 

At the moment, Duren and the rest of the Pistons have several days off to rest up while the play-in round sorts itself out. As the one seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons have earned home court advantage through at least the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Detroit’s first postseason contest is slated for Sunday, April 19 at 6:30 pm. 

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