Detroit Pistons wing Ausar Thompson could be in the running to land on an All-Defensive team soon enough
All season long, the Detroit Pistons maintained a top five team defense rating en route to their first place regular season finish in the Eastern Conference, and it’s difficult to point to one player who influenced that outcome on defense more than Ausar Thompson.
In his third season as a pro, Thompson recommitted himself over the offseason to become an even more aggressive, skilled on-ball defender at the point of attack, and the Overtime Elite product turned in the NBA’s top pickpicketing effort as a result.
Averaging two steals per game across his 72 starts, Thompson took on the burdensome, tiring responsibility of guarding the opposing team’s top playmaker during the regular season for the Pistons, but AT did so with a sense of pride that shined was evident with each pass he intercepted. As a result, Thompson was able to lighten the defensive workload of All-Star point guard Cade Cunningham, and the Pistons cycled big man Isaiah Stewart into the rotation often to help patrol the paint.
All together, that defensive recipe pushed the Pistons to the top of the East from November onward, and Thompson garnered multiple Defensive Player of the Month nods for his smothering effort on that end of the court. Stewart also snagged a DPOM award during the year when Thompson wasn’t looking, but that reality only further underscores how much importance the Pistons placed on harnessing a restrictive defense in the Motor City.
While there are a plethora of games to choose from that showcased Thompson’s penchant for creating turnovers, the third-year wing was particularly successful at jumping passing lanes on March 20 against the Golden State Warriors. During the cross-conference matchup, Thompson set a new career-high with seven steals as the Pistons cruised to a 115-101 win over the Warriors.
With the ability to go over top and fight through screens or dart around picks when guarding on-ball, Thompson presents a constant matchup problem for opposing offenses that is difficult to crack. Thompson has an abundance of positional versatility in the sense that he can defend one through four with no issue, and his rare blend of speed and basketball IQ turn routine half-court defensive possessions into fastbreak looks in transition at the other end for Detroit to finish.
Towards the end of the regular season, Thompson recorded a five-stock night against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 2, and the defensive stalwart joked after the game that he wanted to win 70 Defensive Player of the Month awards, showing that there’s no limitations to AT’s defensive ambition. It’s not just a facet of survival due to any perceived offensive limitations– it’s who he is.
“He’s dead serious that throughout his career, that’s what he wants to do,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after their five-point win over Minnesota. “That’s where he wants to put his impact on the game, and for a guy who understands that at this age and knows how important it is, particularly to our team, it means even that much more that he’s willing to go the extra mile to go out and do what he does every single night knowing that it’s not an easy job.”
It’s a job that Thompson is happy to do, and it’s an important one in terms of Detroit’s blueprint for success. The Pistons thrive off of causing turnovers that allow for their wings to use their speed in space with the transition game, which is directly in Thompson’s wheelhouse.
Right now, Thompson and the Pistons currently have four more days to rest up before beginning the playoffs on Sunday, April 19 at 6:30 pm.
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