More than anything, Detroit Pistons wing Ausar Thompson needs to improve his shooting at this stage of his career
During his first several seasons in the pros, Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren looked like an uber-athletic big man who could clean the glass with ease and make offensive plays near the bucket. Anything outside of that criteria might have been a bit too much to ask out of JD early on, but the Memphis product worked tirelessly to serve as a more complete product during the 2025-26 campaign.
To that extent, Duren entered his fourth season in the NBA with some extra motivation to prove his value since he was entering a contract year, and he delivered a 19.5 point, 10.5 rebound performance all year long on more volume than ever before. From a scoring perspective, Duren averaged nearly eight more points per game overall, and he was asked to carry much more responsibility towards the end of the regular season when Cade Cunningham was injured with a collapsed lung.
As a result, Duren ended up finishing in second place for the Most Improved Player award as a product of his development over the past 12 months, but an underrated aspect of his output comes from the charity stripe. As a free throw shooter, Duren converted just 66.9% of his attempts from the line during his third season, but that number rose all the way to 74.1% after working with Pistons assistant coach Fred Vinson during the offseason.
That’s the type of growth that Ausar Thompson needs to experience this summer in order to perform as a two-way player who’s a definitive plus on both ends of the court after his third place Defensive Player of the Year finish.
As an offensive player overall, Thompson possesses the burst and leaping ability to slash at a high level, but his spot-up jumper has always lagged behind his athleticism. From the three-point line, Thompson connected on just 25% of his long-range attempts in year three, so it would be patently inaccurate to label the Detroit defender as a three-and-D specialist at this point in time.
But Thompson needs to discover a reliable aspect of his offensive game soon. As a free throw shooter, Thompson shot just 57.1% last season, which was actually a seven-point swing in a worse direction from his sophomore campaign, on a total of 2.6 attempts per game. Based on those numbers, AT was leaving at least one point on the board for Detroit each game, but the issues that he was experiencing are correctable.
Vinson worked with Duren closely to steer his free throw shooting in the right direction, and Thompson would benefit from the same type of one-on-one focus this offseason. In fact, Thompson’s usage would expand immensely as a finisher around the rim if he were able to reliably knock down his looks from the charity stripe after leaping into contact around the bucket, which is an unavoidable part of any slasher’s game.
Free throw shooting can turn at times into a mental battle and slumps can manifest in many different ways, but Vinson was able to help Duren go from a 2-of-3 shooter into a 3-of-4 shooter in just one summer. Thompson does not find himself at the charity stripe quite as often as JD given the nature of his shot selection, but the tenacious point-of-attack defender would benefit from some focused free throw training with the shooting guru.
If Thompson can become a passable free throw shooter who gets to the line with regularity, then the Pistons would become a stronger, more complete team with less exploitable weaknesses. Up until this point, Thompson’s shooting flaws have been overlooked because he plays such high-motor defense in a way that can’t be taught— especially true during the playoffs. However, the fact remains that he needs to shore up his shooting so that he can be a viable option on the court for the Pistons at all times instead of succumbing to the offense-for-defense substitutions that pop up in late-game scenarios.
