DETROIT — Jalen Duren stepped out to center court at Little Caesars Arena to an ovation from the crowd on hand Sunday night.
Duren was mere minutes into the Detroit Pistons’ game against the Brooklyn Nets and trailing early, but as his first career NBA All-Star selection was announced to the entire arena, it was hard to hide his excitement.
“I’m trying to focus on the game... it’s hard not to smile,” Duren said postgame. “It’s hard not to be happy. Just a testament to the work. Thank my teammates, my coaches, everybody who helped me get here, couldn’t do it alone and just happy.”
The selection as an All-Star reserve is the product of a lot of dedication and development for the 22-year-old amid his fourth NBA season.
He’s posting career numbers, averaging 18 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while becoming one of the most impactful players on the Eastern Conference’s top team. Duren will join teammate Cade Cunningham at the All-Star game later this month in Inglewood, Calif. along with coach J.B. Bickerstaff who will serve as one of the coaches in the event.
This year’s All-Star game will be the first to feature multiple Pistons players since 2008 — when Duren was four years old.
“I just know how much it means to him, his family. He’s putting so much work into it,” Cunningham said. “And to have been where we’ve been and to have fought our way to making it towards the top of the league and now earn stuff like that individually means a lot, so that’s really cool.”
The pair were drafted into a difficult situation in Detroit and were still just getting their feet wet in the NBA when the team experienced two of the worst seasons in franchise history in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Now they’re leading one of the hottest teams in the NBA and setting franchise records for lopsided victories, as they did on Sunday against the Nets.
“That’s why we’re here and that’s why we do the job that we do is to try your best to help people reach their goals,” Bickerstaff said. “Being able to work with (Duren) is a pleasure every single day. His attitude is the same every single day. His approach is the same, his work ethic is the same. His thirst for knowledge and the willingness to want to get better and do the things that we ask him to do to help this team win has just been unbelievable.”
In just his second season coaching Duren, Bickerstaff has seen the center’s ability, maturiy and leadership take off to open up opportunities like an All-Star selection.
They’re also the sort of qualities that allow him to settle down from the emotional high of that announcement and pace the Pistons to a big win.
The first thing Cunningham said to Duren after the announcement was “let’s win this game, then we’ll celebrate after.”
He took the sentiment to heart and the Pistons locked in for an absolute thrashing of the Nets. Duren led all scorers with 21 points, adding 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals while not playing at all in the fourth quarter.
In his 24 minutes of playing time, the Pistons were +42 when Duren was on the court. He was a big reason Detroit set a franchise record for point differential in a game, winning by 53.
All the while, Duren had spent the day trying not to think too much about the coming announcement.
“I could say I tried to not think about it, but it’s hard,” Duren said. “Everybody’s mentioning it. Everybody’s kind of giving me that smirk, ‘You know what today is?’”
Cunningham also told Duren to stay off his phone during halftime. He was certain messages from friends and family were flooding in and there would be a time for that.
Even with the Pistons up 23 at the break, they’re a team that wants to keep their foot on the gas. They did that and more to earn a decisive win to kick off a stretch of four home games in six days.
But with the win in hand, Duren was all smiles from there.
Not just for himself, but for his teammates and for Detroit, getting the nod was incredibly meaningful for Duren.
“I want to do even more for the city,” Duren said. “They’ve been supporting me, they’ve been supporting the whole group, the whole organization, through the ups, the downs, and to be able to bring another All-Star back to the city is great.”
The smile on Cunningham might have been even wider than Duren’s in the locker room.
The guard couldn’t talk about his teammates’ accomplishment without grinning, even more than after he earned his own selection. Every recognition that’s come the way of the Pistons — individual or not — is carrying weight to every member of a team driven to earn respect.
“He’s feeling good. We’re all feeling good,” Cunningham said. “It’s a good day for us.”