Ausar Thompson Reveals What Makes Detroit Pistons ‘A Little Different’

During head coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s tenure with the Detroit Pistons, the team has taken large, incremental steps forward each season. To go from 14 wins before Bickerstaff was installed to a 60-win campaign that secured the top seed in the Eastern Conference in the timespan of just 24 months is an impressive accomplishment, but it’s left members of his team, like Ausar Thompson, hungry for me. 

In his second season as a pro, Thompson helped lead the Pistons back to the playoffs for the first time in five years, which sent out a signal to the rest of the league that Detroit was building something. One year later, Thompson played an important role in the Pistons’ first postseason series victory in over a decade, so the trajectory in the Motor City is still pointing upward. 

With those playoff experiences fresh in Thompson’s memory, the All-Defensive First Team wing feels like he’s grown as a player and has a better understanding of how to approach the 2026-27 campaign. 

“Treat every game like it’s the most important game,” Thompson told WXYZ Detroit. “You can’t be focused on five-game stretches. You have to focus on one team. Whether that team is the worst team in the league, the best team in the league, we have to play against that team with all of our might and give it all we got and obviously show off our talent as well. We’re a very talented team. We’re just a little different because we’re a talented team who plays extremely hard.”

If those words sound like they’ve come directly from Bickerstaff’s mouth, that would be because the All-Star coach has consistently delivered a similar message within the halls of the Henry Ford Health Pistons Performance Center. Last season, Detroit’s relentless approach throughout the 82-game regular season was a defining quality that separated the Pistons from other teams in the league, and it’s the mindset that Thompson is carrying into his fourth year in the NBA. 

After landing in the top three for the Defensive Player of the Year award, Thompson is looking to expand his game as a ball handler and playmaker moving forward, so he’s taken on a role as more of an initiator during the preseason. Even when Cade Cunningham is on the floor, Thompson has brought the ball up and initiated half-court sets to give defenses an extra wrinkle to consider. 

Now, Thompson would be more effective in that role if his jumper was more reliable or even passable, but opposing defenses know they can sag off to clog passing lanes when AT’s on-ball, which limits the Pistons’ success with that lineup. So, Thompson’s development as an initiator at the one is still a work in progress, but it’s a tactic that Detroit plans to continue refining throughout their exhibition slate. 

On that front, the Pistons have another day off before traveling to Minnesota for an 8 pm tip-off time against the Timberwolves on Wednesday, Oct. 14.