Daniss Jenkins, the two-way player who has become an integral part of the Detroit Pistons’ rotation, has inked a two-year deal with the club. Jenkins used up the last of his two-way player availability with the Pistons in Friday’s dominant win over the New York Knicks. He scored 18 points and hit three 3-pointers in the game.
Details of his contract have not been disclosed, but reports indicate that the new two-year contract include a team-option for next season. The Pistons reportedly used part of their remaining portion of the bi-annual exception.
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The Pistons are required to release a player to make room for Jenkins on the 15-man roster, and while unconfirmed, it is likely that player is veteran Dario Saric.
Jenkins went undrafted in 2024 after an impactful four-year college career with stints at Pacific for two years before transferring to Iona to play with Rick Pitino at Iona and following him to St. John’s for his final season of eligibility.
He signed a two-way deal with Detroit last season where he showed some promise, but he took a big leap forward in Summer League where it became clear he might have an NBA future. He put any questions about his ability to stick in the league to rest early in the season as he filled in for an injured Cade Cunningham.
He averaged 20.2 points per game over a five-game span, including hitting 44% of his threes and 7.6 assists. He’s scored at least 10 points in 15 of his 42 appearances this season.
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He is averaging 8.2 points, 3.3 assists, and 1.3 turnovers in 42 games so far. He has also cemented himself as the team’s backup point guard, and made Jaden Ivey even more expendable. Ivey was traded to the Chicago Bulls at the NBA trade deadline so he could get consistent minutes while he’s working himself back from his broken fibula injury suffered at the beginning of 2025.
Jenkins has clearly earned the trust of head coach JB Bickerstaff, including Bickerstaff choosing to end games with both Cunningham and Jenkins in the back court as dangerous ball-handlers and scorers.
The young guard, who recently said he felt like it was crazy that he was undrafted, now doesn’t have to worry about his availability and gets what likely amounts to a raise of 10 times his two-way contract.