Jalen Duren

Jalen Montez Duren (born November 18, 2003) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He played college basketball for the Memphis Tigers.

A center, he stands 6 ft and weighs 250 lbs.

He was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2021 class.

Duren was ranked as the top player in the 2022 class before reclassifying.

Duren was born in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, before his family moved to New Castle, Delaware.

He grew up playing football and baseball in addition to basketball, which he ended up focusing on as he grew older and improved his skills.

Duren lead Memphis to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014, leading the Tigers to the round of 32.

As a freshman, he averaged 12 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

On April 18, 2022, Duren declared for the 2022 NBA draft, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.

Duren was selected with the 13th overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2022 NBA draft.

On draft day, his rights were traded to the New York Knicks and then to the Detroit Pistons.

Duren joined the Pistons' 2022 NBA Summer League roster.

In his summer league debut, Duren scored nine points in an 81–78 win against the Portland Trail Blazers.

On July 7, 2022, Duren signed a rookie-scale contract with the Pistons.

Duren attended Gunning Bedford Middle School in New Castle, where he played on the basketball team and began attracting attention as a 6ft 5in seventh grader in 2017.

He was spotted by Rob Brown, the program director for a Philadelphia-based Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) club called Team Final, who quickly recruited him to the program.

By the eighth grade Duren had grown to about 6ft 8in, and further grew his profile by leading the 15U Team Final squad to a MADE Hoops League Championship title.

Strong showings at the MADE Hoops Middle School Academy and the CP3 Rising Stars Camp that summer solidified his position as one of the top players in his class.

Duren committed to playing high school basketball at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, along with AAU teammate and highly-ranked guard Justice Williams, after having been personally recruited by head coach Matt Griffin.

He averaged 12.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 71 percent from the field as a freshman, leading his team to their second consecutive Philadelphia Catholic League title.

He earned first-team all-league and second-team all-state honors, and was named a MaxPreps Freshman All-American.

That summer he was a standout performer at the 2019 Nike Elite 100 Camp.

Duren averaged 18.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per contest during his second year, leading his team to an 18–10 record.

In the first round of the Catholic League playoffs he recorded 18 points and 18 rebounds against Bonner-Prendergast, hitting the game-winning buzzer beater in the 61–59 victory on Valentine's Day.

He added 20 points and 18 rebounds in their 83–73 semi-final win over regular season champions Archbishop Wood at the Palestra.

They were unable to defend their league crown, though, as they were defeated by Neumann Goretti in the title game; Duren contributed 11 points and 16 rebounds in the 66–58 loss.

In the first round of the PIAA class 6A playoffs, they defeated Coatesville 81–75 with Duren posting 13 points and eight rebounds.

He recorded 20 points, six rebounds and eight blocks in their 62–51 quarter-final win over Pennridge before play was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the end of the year he collected first-team all-league, first-team all-state and MaxPreps Sophomore All-American honors.

For his junior year Duren transferred to Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida, who was in the process of joining the independent National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (NIBC) with other elite programs like Oak Hill, Wasatch Academy and Sunrise Christian amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duren was one of only five underclassmen named to the Sports Illustrated Preseason All-American team.

In January 2021, Duren had a strong showing competing against high-level talent at the St. James NIBC Invitational in Washington, D.C., including a SportsCenter Top 10 play against Wasatch Academy where he blocked a shot by catching the ball in mid-air.

On March 11, Montverde avenged their only loss of the season by defeating Sunrise Christian 61–57 for the inaugural NIBC championship; Duren finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

He averaged 15.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game in NIBC conference play, leading the Eagles to a 12–1 league record (20–1 overall).

He was also recognized as the 2020–21 MaxPreps Florida High School Basketball Player of the Year.

Duren overtook Emoni Bates in his junior year as the top prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, surpassing Bates as the number one recruit according to ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals.

On August 6, 2021, he reclassified to the 2021 class and committed to playing college basketball for Memphis over offers from Kentucky, Miami (Florida), the NBA G League and the Australia NBL.

On November 19, 2021, Duren scored 19 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and blocked five shots in a 74–62 win against Western Kentucky.

He was named to the First Team All-AAC as well as AAC Freshman of the Year.