Pistons center Jalen Duren has been diagnosed with a strained right hamstring and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the team announced today (via Twitter).
Duren, who was injured in the second quarter of Friday’s game at Miami, appeared on Saturday’s injury report with a strained hamstring. It wouldn’t be surprising if he missed more than two weeks, as teams are often cautious about soft tissue injuries due to the risk of re-injury.
In addition to being selected to his first All-Star Game last season, Duren also earned a third-team All-NBA spot, averaging 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 70 regular season games (28.2 minutes per game).
A 22-year-old large man who resigned with the Pistons on a five-year, $200 million deal as a restricted free agent after what were widely described as contentious negotiations, missed part of training camp and several preseason games as those talks dragged into early October.
Duren had 22 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes in Detroit’s win over Boston on Tuesday and had four points, six rebounds and three assists in 10 minutes on Friday before suffering a hamstring injury.
How By Amari Sankoff II of The Detroit Free Press writes, Duren wasn’t the only key Pistons starter injured Friday. Small forward Ausar Thompson sprained his right ankle in the third quarter and missed the rest of the game – he officially doubtful for Sunday’s contest in Philadelphia with a sprained right ankle.
Despite injuries to Duren and Thompson, the Pistons got an easy win over the Heat, showing off their impressive depth for Hunter Patterson of The Athletic (free link). Acquiring a sign and exchange John Collins (team-high 23 points, seven rebounds) and Duncan Robinson (17 points) both knocked down five 3-pointers while the backup big man Paul Reed had 19 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes.
“He plays in his own rhythm and I think it’s hard for opponents to catch a rhythm when he does that“, head coach J. Bickerstaff said when asked about Reed’s unique style. “There are so many things he does, but there’s no one who works harder on his game than P. Reid.
“You can see that the work is paying off. We talk about every guy having a leadership role on this team; he leads by example and his work ethic.”
Reed and Three Smiths figure to get the bulk of the minutes at center with Duren out, with Collins as a small-five option.
