Jalen Duren

Jalen Anthony Duren was born in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, and his family later moved to New Castle, Delaware. He played football and baseball as well as basketball before focusing on basketball as his skills developed. His mother is Aneisea Hudgins.

Duren attracted attention at Gunning Bedford Middle School after reaching 6 feet 5 inches as a seventh-grader in 2017. Team Final program director Rob Brown recruited him to the Philadelphia-based Amateur Athletic Union club. By eighth grade, Duren had grown to about 6 feet 8 inches and helped Team Final's 15U squad win a MADE Hoops League championship.

Duren began his high school career at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, where he played alongside AAU teammate Justice Williams. As a freshman, he averaged 12.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 71 percent from the field, helping Roman Catholic win its second consecutive Philadelphia Catholic League title. He received first-team all-league and second-team all-state honors and was named a MaxPreps Freshman All-American.

During his sophomore season, Duren averaged 18.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. In a Catholic League playoff victory over Bonner-Prendergast, he scored 18 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, including a game-winning buzzer-beating putback. He was selected to the first-team all-league and first-team all-state teams and earned MaxPreps Sophomore All-American recognition.

Duren transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida for his junior season. He helped Montverde win the inaugural National Interscholastic Basketball Conference championship and finish 20-1 overall, averaging 15.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in conference play. He was named the 2020-21 MaxPreps Florida High School Basketball Player of the Year and helped Montverde win the 2021 High School Nationals championship.

Duren was widely regarded as one of the leading players in his class and became the number one recruit in the 2022 class in rankings from ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals. He was a consensus five-star recruit.

On August 6, 2021, Duren reclassified to the 2021 recruiting class and committed to Memphis. He chose the Tigers over Kentucky, Miami, the NBA G League and Australia's National Basketball League.

Duren played one season for the Memphis Tigers in 2021-22, averaging 12 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He helped Memphis reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014 and advance to the round of 32. His honors included AAC Freshman of the Year, first-team All-AAC, the AAC All-Freshman Team and a place on the All-AAC Tournament Team.

He made an early impact with Memphis, recording 15 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots in his debut against Tennessee Tech. Against Western Kentucky, he posted 20 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks, becoming the fourth freshman since 2010-11 to produce that statistical line. He also had a 21-point, 20-rebound performance against UCF.

Duren declared for the 2022 NBA draft on April 18, 2022, giving up his remaining college eligibility.

The Charlotte Hornets selected Duren with the 13th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft. His draft rights were traded to the New York Knicks and then to the Detroit Pistons, and he signed a rookie-scale contract with Detroit on July 7, 2022.

Duren made his regular-season debut for the Pistons with 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in a victory over the Orlando Magic. In February 2023, he recorded career highs of 30 points and 17 rebounds against the San Antonio Spurs. He later produced 22 points and a career-high 21 rebounds in a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In the 2025-26 season, Duren averaged 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in the regular season. He scored a career-high 33 points against the Dallas Mavericks and was named an Eastern Conference reserve for his first NBA All-Star Game. He was also selected to the 2025-26 All-NBA Third Team, his first All-NBA honor.

Duren represented the United States at the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Belém, Brazil. He averaged 10.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game during the tournament.

The United States won the gold medal, and Duren was selected to the tournament's all-star five team.

Duren is a center whose game is built around size, strength, athleticism, footwork and interior defense. Recruiting analysts regarded him as one of the best traditional post players in his high school class, with the ability to influence both ends of the court through scoring, rebounding and shot blocking.

His shot-blocking ability drew a comparison to Bam Adebayo from 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi. Duren's AAU coach Chris Rountree compared his abilities and skill set to Marvin Bagley III.