The Detroit Pistons were the best team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season and the top seed in the playoff bracket. But after three games in their first-round playoff series against the 8th-seeded Orlando Magic, the Pistons find themselves trailing the series 1-2.
Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham has been spectacular so far, averaging 31.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game in 39 minutes of playing time per outing. However, Cunningham hasn’t gotten consistent contributions from his supporting cast, especially All-Star center Jalen Duren.
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Reacting to a post on “X” that mentioned that the Pistons’ probability to win the East has plummeted to 11 percent from 27 percent after losing Game 3, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins called out Duren in a now-deleted tweet: “Can somebody tell Duren the playoff has started”.
He changed his comment on the post.
Wendell Carter is outplaying Duren in the series
It’s unclear why Perk changed his mind about his original tweet because he was on to something. Duren was Detroit’s second-leading scorer during the regular season at 19.5 points per game.
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However, he’s scored only 27 points in three games played against the Magic. Not only that, he’s averaging just 8.3 rebounds per game in the series after pulling down 10.5 per game during the regular season.
Duren’s performance in the postseason has been so bad that Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. has outplayed him in the battle of “Angel Reese’s” boyfriends. Reese’s current flame is averaging 11.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 steals per game through the first three games of the series, better numbers across the board than her ex’s.
In Game 3 last Saturday night, Carter scored 14 points and pulled down 17 rebounds, including 8 offensive boards. Wendell has also been elite on defense so far in the series.
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Meanwhile, everyone’s wondering what’s up with Duren, or where he is right now if you ask Perk.
Detroit needs Duren to win the series
Regardless of what’s going on with him, Duren has to figure things out fast and show signs of life soon, as the Pistons could go down 1-3 in the series, with Game 4 in Orlando on Monday night. But while some Pistons fans are starting to worry, Cunningham didn’t sound like it during the post-game locker room interviews.
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“He’s confident,”said Cade of Jalen. “These last three games haven’t been what he wants or what we might want for him. The whole team and I have no doubt he’s going to figure it out, and he knows he’s going to figure it out. “
Despite being down 1-2 in the series and playing on the road, the Pistons are favored to win Game 4 by 3.5 points, which means the Las Vegas gods aren’t worried about them either. But that doesn’t mean Duren can have another off-night, because Game 4 should be a must-win for the Pistons. Let’s see how he responds.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Apr 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.