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How Jalen Duren Was Able To Retrieve His Lost Passport And Fly To Paris After All

The NBA Global Games are finally back, and after a three year long hiatus due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons played a regular-season game in Paris last night.

The Detroit Pistons, who are still missing their young star Cade Cunningham, were hopeful that starting center Jalen Duren would be available for the game in the French capital, after the rookie was out for the previous five games with an ankle injury.

The ankle problem aside however, there was one big problem regarding his availability — Duren wasn’t in France with the Pistons initially.

Why? Well, according to various reports, the young big man lost his passport and wasn’t able to travel with the team. Then yesterday, shortly before the game, the team revealed that Duren made his way to Paris after all.

He also played, and he played well. Even though the Pistons lost, the young big man had a promising comeback, and was able to crash the boards. In just 18 minutes of playing time, Duren was able to collect a double double with his 11 points and 12 rebounds, while adding one steal and two blocks in the process.

Following the game, I was able to ask Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey about Duren, the whole passport issue, and how he was able to retrieve said passport.

“He was kind of on a minute restriction, but I thought he really, really contributed on the rebounding side of the ball… Typical 19-year-old; he had it [the passport] and he left it in a car that he put in a shop, and as he was going through the process of getting another passport, they found the old passport. So… a learning experience and understanding how important the passports are for you.”

Here’s how @DetroitPistons @JalenDuren retrieved his missing passport and was able to travel to #NBAParis after all… pic.twitter.com/pWuaddtDmk

— Len Werle (@RealLennyCarlos) January 20, 2023