Through 15 games of the regular season, Pistons center Jalen Duren is taking the Eastern Conference and– scratch that– the entire NBA by storm as he makes a case to be the league’s most improved player. 

Helping Detroit to a 13-2 record, Duren is averaging 20.6 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, and he’s done so in emphatic fashion. Duren has developed an unstoppable lob connection with Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham, and the fourth-year big man has allowed the Pistons to stick to their offensive identity en route to 11 straight victories. 

“We want to get to the paint as much as we can,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after beating the Hawks on Tuesday. “We feel like if you dominate the painted area on both sides of the ball, you give yourself the best opportunity to win, and then we’ll create the threes from there, but our mindset is always to attack, attack, attack and put pressure on the paint.”

Along those lines, Duren has been remarkably effective at applying pressure down low. This year, Duren sports a 67.4% field goal rate, so he’s finishing high-percentage looks around the basket, many of which come through the pick and roll with Cunningham. Duren’s grown comfortable with Cade in PnR situations, and the dynamic duo can read each other’s actions on the floor with staggering precision. 

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Continuing with the metrics-based defense of Duren’s play as of late, the Pistons center has improved mightily on dribble-drives to the hoop and is currently scoring 1.22 points per possession on drives to the basket. So, Duren’s improved comfort level putting the ball on the floor has allowed for the 6-10 dunking menace to score at a higher rate this season as he’s often found himself at the top of the key in the target position with the basketball in his hands. Duren is being asked to make a lot of decisions in the Detroit offense, and he’s shown a propensity to score when he gets the ball in the post. 

Since JD has been receiving the ball more in isolation situations as well, Duren has had a clear opportunity to showcase how far his skill set has grown during his time in Detroit. On isolations, Duren currently ranks in the 90th percentile among all NBA players, so the Pistons’ center is making a strong case as to why he should be included on the Eastern Conference’s All-Star squad this season.

READ MORE: Cade Cunningham Closes Out Pistons 11th Straight Win With Huge Double-Double Against Hawks

Last year, Duren was a similarly effective player down low and in lob situations, and he still averaged a double-double at over 10 points and 10 rebounds per game. However, Duren has ramped up his scoring in a major way, virtually doubling his output from last season to the 2025-26 campaign. Duren has helped emerge as Detroit’s No. 2 scoring threat behind Cunningham, but depending on the flow of the game Duren can even operate as the team’s top option as he’s shown with several 30-point games already this season. 

Duren just turned 22 years old this week, so he's very much still a young player who is developing and adding to his repertoire, and the Pistons big man appears to have done just that during the offseason. Of course, it’s too early to declare favorites for the end-of-season NBA awards, but Duren is making as strong of a claim as anybody right now to walk away with the Most Improved Player Award by the time the year wraps up. 

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