Now in his third year in the NBA, Detroit Pistons point forward Ausar Thompson has turned into one of the league’s premier athletic talents. 

Already a lockdown defender, Thompson has enough explosiveness to grab any rebound, and his burst helps the Pistons fly down the floor on fast break opportunities. Thompson has steadily added pieces to his game over the past three seasons, and he’s far from considering himself a complete player. 

Thompson had a long journey to get to the league, and once the 6-7 swingmen made it to Detroit, he learned that his journey was far from over. The Pistons were about to beginning a historic losing streak, and Thompson has the first taste of losing basketball in his entire life. 

Before long, the pressure started to mount. 

“You’re not even halfway through the year, and you’re already out the playoffs — the season starts to feel long,” Thompson wrote in The Players Tribune.  “It’s exhausting. There’s no sugarcoating it.”

But instead of wilting under the pressure, Thompson stuck with it. Detroit’s then-rookie doubled down on his defensive effort, and he tried to observe what made the difference in winning basketball while he was sidelined with an injury to close out his first season.

“The vets really wanted to see the young guys be successful and teach us how to do it the right way, and I feel like that made the biggest difference in our culture,” Thompson wrote.

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Thompson was an important part in shifting the culture surrounding Pistons basketball, but that credit should also be distributed to vets like Tobias Harris, Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart as they laid the groundwork of what would become a playoff-caliber squad. 

“Something I always say is, I feel like the city where you play shapes a big part of how you play,” Thompson wrote. “The pioneers, the legends never fully leave, especially in a city like Detroit. All of Detroit’s teams that made it to the top had gritty defenders, people who weren’t afraid to make the game a little scrappy, but at the same time were still playing basketball. I feel like Stew is a perfect example of that, Ron, even myself. I may not be as loud, but I definitely consider myself a dog on the defensive end.”

The toughness and physicality that Detroit prides itself on has made a resurgence in the Pistons’ building over the last couple seasons, and that brand of basketball is quite popular in the city right now. 

“You know, in a way I can’t quite put my finger on, [Detroit] kind of reminds me of Oakland. Or maybe I’m just starting to feel at home. It feels good to play for Detroit, for a city that we know really believes in us. And so going into that second game, coming off that Game 1 loss, it was just like, Man, Detroit needs to see playoff basketball again. This city needs a dub. I fought for that so hard I fouled out. But that was my first playoff win in the league, and I’ll never forget that.”

From here on out, Thompson is looking to make more unforgettable postseason memories for Pistons fans throughout Detroit. 

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