The Lakers have been looking for a real center for two decades. According to a Friday report, they might finally have a target who makes sense.
Los Angeles is showing serious interest in Jalen Duren, who becomes a restricted free agent next month, per multiple league sources. The Pistons big man would be exactly the kind of athletic center the Lakers have lacked since Anthony Davis was traded to Dallas in 2025.
This pursuit makes more sense than people realize. Duren is 22 years old. He averaged 14.4 points and 10.3 rebounds last season for a Pistons team that pushed Cleveland to seven games in the first round. He shoots 70 percent at the rim. He runs the floor.
That is the exact profile the Lakers need next to Luka Doncic and LeBron James. The Lakers have been playing Maxi Kleber and a hodgepodge of veteran minimums at the five, and it has been ugly. They need a center who can finish lobs from Luka and protect the rim against the league’s elite drivers.
The catch is that Detroit holds matching rights. The Pistons can match any offer Duren signs, and they have made it clear they want to keep him. Detroit’s front office under Trajan Langdon has been disciplined about the rebuild, and Duren is a foundational piece next to Cade Cunningham.
That puts the Lakers in a tough spot. To pry Duren away, they would need to offer a contract Detroit is unwilling to match, which means going into the luxury tax with a deal in the four-year, $100 million range. The Lakers can do that, but it would tie up cap flexibility for the foreseeable future.
The alternative is a sign-and-trade. Detroit might be willing to negotiate if the Lakers offered Austin Reaves and a first-round pick. Reaves is exactly the kind of secondary creator the Pistons need to take pressure off Cunningham, and a future first from a Lakers team likely to make the playoffs has real value.
The complication is that Reaves is in his own contract year and has publicly said he wants to stay in LA. The Lakers are likely to re-sign him at around $25 million a year. That makes him hard to include in any major trade construct.
The bigger picture for LA is the LeBron timeline. James turns 42 this December. He has said he will play at least one more season, and most insiders believe he will re-sign with the Lakers on another short-term deal. The clock to win another title is real, and adding a 22-year-old All-Star caliber center is the kind of move that could change the math.
The Lakers have other targets too. They have shown interest in Walker Kessler from Utah, who is also a restricted free agent. Kessler is a better rim protector than Duren but a worse offensive player. The two profiles offer different paths to upgrading the center spot.
Either way, the Lakers need to do something here. The current center rotation is not playoff viable. Rob Pelinka and the front office have been telegraphing aggressive moves all spring, and now is the time to make them.
For Pistons fans, this is the test of how committed the franchise is to keeping its young core together. Duren has earned the chance to get paid, and Detroit has the cap space to do it. The only question is whether Cunningham, Duren, Jaden Ivey, and Ron Holland are good enough to keep building around.
The Lakers think they are not. Or at least, they are willing to bet on prying one of them loose with the right offer. Whether it actually happens depends on the price tag and Detroit’s willingness to fight for its big man.
One thing is certain. The Lakers center search is not going to end with another veteran minimum signing. They are swinging at the actual market this summer, and Duren is the most realistic target on the board.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
