The Detroit Pistons announced on Sunday that Jalen Duren would be re-evaluated in two weeks after he left Friday's win over the Heat in the second quarter with a hamstring injury. Because it happened in the second regular-season game and is a soft-tissue injury, the offseason may be why the center is already missing time.
On the latest episode of the 'Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective' podcast, the host talked about Duren's injury and what might've been the cause:
"I don't know anything about this. Let's just say that when a player who doesn't have a standard summer has a soft-tissue injury... I don't know. I'm just saying that when I saw that, I actually got a text from a scout saying you had to expect something like that."
You can't definitively pinpoint the summer as the reason Duren is now missing time, but he didn't join team workouts during the offseason as his restricted free-agent saga dragged on until Oct. 1.
Duren wasn't under contract (he had a $9.6 million qualifying offer), meaning that if he got injured while still stuck in negotiations with the Pistons, his chance at a big payday would've gone out the window. That doesn't mean he wasn't still working out, as we know that he was, but as Windy said, it wasn't a standard summer for the center, so he had to approach things differently.
Pistons should've settled Duren's future a lot sooner
Cleveland Clinic wrote that "sudden movements with a lot of force or repetitive movements with normal force cause muscle strains." Hmm, that sure sounds applicable to Duren's situation.
Duren played in only two preseason games for the Pistons, averaging 17.5 minutes. In Detroit's season-opening win over Boston, he played 28 minutes, the same average he posted per game in 70 contests last season. He moved around much quicker than last season against the Celtics, playing with the aggressiveness on both ends the Pistons need from him.
Unfortunately, doing too much too soon with the force he was playing with could be what led to his soft-tissue injury.
And while Duren will be re-evaluated in two weeks, that doesn't mean he will be cleared to play then. Soft-tissue injuries also have a high chance of recurring, so when he returns, Detroit will have to put more emphasis on easing him back in.
The Pistons could've helped avoid this by not letting things with the center drag on throughout the offseason, allowing Duren to better prepare his body for the season ahead.
Pistons have to be careful with Jalen Duren
Detroit got past Philadelphia on Sunday, and the team also missed Ausar Thompson, who was out with a right ankle sprain. The Sixers were missing Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe, but the shorthanded Pistons still pulled off an impressive win.
Paul Reed helped make that possible, but Detroit doesn't want to rely on him too heavily throughout the season. That's why the Pistons paid Duren a fully guaranteed $200 million.
Injuries are part of the game (the worst part), and while they're not always preventable, it's on Detroit to help its players be in the best possible shape. Physically, Duren looked to be in good shape entering training camp, but getting back up to game speed after the offseason is still difficult, especially for someone who had a not-so-normal summer.
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