Detroit Pistons Fastbreak: How Ausar Thompson Flips The Switch

As soon as the Detroit Pistons lost Jalen Duren to a strained hamstring early in the regular season, the 7-3 squad pivoted to a smaller lineup without their All-Star center. Paul Reed moved into the starting five to cover that absence, but he was not the only Piston to take on more responsibility while JD recovers. 

Now in his fourth season as a pro, Ausar Thompson inked a long-term deal over the summer that will keep him in the Motor City for five more years, and they’ll be productive years judging by AT’s early-season impact for Detroit. While the Pistons were already aiming to utilize Thompson more as a secondary creator and ball handler this season, Duren’s injury has re-emphasized how important it is to crash the glass in Motown, so that’s been a focal point for the defensive ace through 10 games. 

From a rebounding standpoint, Thompson is averaging 9.4 boards each night over his last five games, which includes a dominant 17-rebound effort against the Philadelphia 76ers. Since AT’s been more demonstrative in his glass-cleaning impact, the Overtime Elite product has turned those boards into quick-start transition opportunities, which has helped unlock Detroit’s fastbreak offense to open the 2026-27 campaign. 

Over the past two-plus seasons, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has frequently preached the importance of moving quickly down the floor and flipping turnovers into expedient fastbreak buckets, which is a strategy that meshes perfectly with Thompson’s skill set. 

“[I’m] taking things a day at a time and trying to get better everyday, be more aggressive, try to get rebounds to push the pace,” Thompson said after practice earlier today. “When that happens, the defense collapses and I can get assists.”

From a metric standpoint, Thompson’s rebounds and assists per 40 minutes are both at career-high levels, which underscores how the Pistons have laid on the gas pedal to prioritize transition baskets whenever possible. Overall, Thompson is nearly on pace to record the highest usage rate of his four-year stint in the pros, so Duren’s untimely injury created an opportunity for AT to continue growing into the dynamic two-way game-breaker that he was drafted to be. 

As a defender, Thompson is still taking on some of the toughest matchups each night, which has helped the Pistons pick and choose specifically who they will allow to beat them on each night. During the season opener against the Boston Celtics, Paul George had a stellar shooting display en route to a 38-point performance, but Thompson effectively shut down Jayson Tatum all game long. 

Right now, the Pistons still have over a week until Duren will be re-evaluated, so there is no telling how long Detroit will have to continue covering for their big man’s absence. But most recently, the Pistons opted to move John Collins from power forward to the center position versus the Washington Wizards while bringing Paul Reed in off the bench, so Detroit is currently tinkering with the possibility of using their small-ball lineup on a more consistent basis. 

In that scenario, Thompson would likely be asked to play at the four for various portions of the game considering his ability to guard virtually anyone on the court, though the Pistons would be sacrificing a bit of size in the low post.