Pistons’ Jalen Duren Out For At Least 2 Weeks As Team Faces More Bad Injury News

Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren suffered a right hamstring strain in the Pistons’ win over the Miami Heat on Friday, and the team has now announced that he will miss at least two weeks.

The center is fresh off signing a five-year, $200 million deal over the offseason after long contract negotiations, during which he missed some of training camp, but ultimately got the deal done. This isn’t the start the Pistons, or he, were looking for. Duren is a great piece for the team, and they’ll definitely feel his absence while he’s sidelined.

Whether the contract standout ends up costing the team is yet to be seen. Duren didn’t have a normal offseason with regular preparation, but it’s tough to put all the blame on one spot for an injury like this.

Duren had 22 points in their first game against the Boston Celtics, just north of the 19.5 points per game that he averaged last year, which saw him get selected as an All-Star.

When the injury first came out, it was expected to be a right thigh injury before the main diagnosis was released on Saturday. The injury’s severity also wasn’t expected to be as bad initially, before the two-plus-week timeline was announced.

The Pistons have more injury issues as they also lost Ausar Thompson the same night to an ankle issue. He was day-to-day before eventually being ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, and is questionable but unlikely to play on Tuesday against the New York Knicks.

The Pistons will hope that once these two return, they can avoid any lingering long-term issues.