What to know about Detroit Pistons' Jalen Duren: An 18-year-old who defines 'NBA body'

Troy Weaver on NBA draft night almost guarantees the Detroit Pistons will be wheeling and dealing.

On Thursday, it happened just more than one hour into the 2022 draft.

Weaver and the Pistons made a trade with the New York Knicks and Charlotte Hornets in the middle of the first round, acquiring No. 13 overall pick Jalen Duren, a center from Memphis, and Knicks guard Kemba Walker in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick via Milwaukee, which the Pistons acquired Wednesday when they dealt Jerami Grant to Portland.

The Pistons are expected to reach a contract buyout with Walker, who has one year and $9.2 million remaining.

Here are three things to know about Duren, the Pistons newest big man.

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Physical specimen

Duren, even by NBA standards, is a physical specimen.

The 6-foot-11 center weighs 250 pounds, has a 7-5 wingspan and a 42-inch vertical leap. As a freshman for the Tigers, Duren averaged 12.0 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and shot 59.7% from the floor.

Also, he's one of the youngest players in the NBA draft, still 18 until November after he re-classified in high school and moved up a year. Heck, he was already 6-8 when he was 13 years old.

Rarely has he not been the most athletic player on the court — that's how he became an All-AAC first-teamer and the Freshman of the Year in the conference while starting 29 games and averaging 25 minutes.

Duren projects as a rim-protector and an interior force, with elite finishing ability. Duren is an old-school center, who doesn't shoot outside of the paint frequently, but should his footwork, vision and passing (which is already above average) continue to improve, his upside is tremendous.

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NBA pedigree and comparisons

Duren played just three years in high school and one year in college at a non-Power Six school, but already has NBA ties.

His days at Memphis he was coached by former Magic star Penny Hardaway and had two assistant coaches with ties to the Pistons who you may have heard of: Rasheed Wallace and Larry Brown.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski raved about the moves the Pistons made to acquire Duren.

"Tremendous coup for Detroit GM Troy Weaver to land two of his top targets in this draft: Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren — with the cost of only a future first-round pick," he tweeted on Thursday.

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Duren, with his youth, length and athleticism, is frequently compared to Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo.

Just getting started

Duren may be an old-school center, but he was born in 2003 and grew up in Generation Z. Duren started a YouTube series back in May called "Just Getting Started."

The videos show everything from his relationships with players, to community service and his high intensity workouts. It has been updated all week and had a vlog series leading up to the time just before the draft. That will likely be updated again shortly.

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Duren talked about his journey to the highest level of prep basketball playing for Montverde Academy in Florida (as did Cade Cunningham) and how he needed to mature both his game and his personality quickly in order to succeed.

He said it's a work ethic he continues to carry with him every day.

"No matter what state we're in or what city, it's just constant work," Duren said in Episode 2. "Everyday waking up grinding, two or three a day workouts. Everything we can do to make me a better basketball player and a better person.

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What to know about Detroit Pistons' Jalen Duren, who's just 18