The Making of a Defensive Star: The Emergence of Ausar Thompson

The 2023 NBA Draft had some interesting wrinkles in it that make it one of the more notable Drafts in the last decade. It featured two forfeited picks resulting in only 58 players being selected, which is unusual by itself. It’s also the Draft that featured Victor Wembanyama—the first French player to be drafted with the first overall pick.

Another interesting fact about that draft is that two twin brothers—Amen and Ausar Thompson—became the first pair of brothers to be selected in the top 5 of the Draft. Amen is the older of the two brothers, being born one minute before Ausar, and he was the first of the two to be drafted in the NBA when the Houston Rockets selected him with the fourth overall pick.

Ausar has lived his young basketball life in the shadow of his twin brother. Amen is often regarded as the more talented brother, the one with the better upside. Despite that, Ausar has developed into one of the best defenders in today’s NBA—an indication that he won’t be relegated to the shadows for very long.

The Other Twin

Throughout the Draft process, Ausar Thompson was often referred to as “the other Thompson twin“ as a sort of statement that he is not as talented as his brother. Amen was viewed as the better ball handler with higher-end quickness. Those slight advantages are why Amen was selected fourth and Ausar was selected fifth to the Detroit Pistons.

In a strange way, despite being the fifth pick in the Draft, Ausar entered the league as a bit an underdog. Him landing in Detroit seems like a sort of pairing that was meant to be in that regard, since it’s a sports city that has a penchant for embracing players and personalities that are overlooked and discarded by the masses.

Thompson joined a Detroit team that was in the midst of its darkest days as a franchise. It was coming off a four-year stretch where they went 80-222 (the worst in the league in that span) and were widely considered to be NBA Siberia. Thompson’s rookie season saw more of those hard times, punctuated by the disastrous tenure of head coach Monty Williams. This was a far worse situation than what his brother walked into, as new head coach Ime Udoka led the Rockets to a 41-41 record in his rookie year and then a playoff appearance in Amen’s second season.

It seemed that after their rookie years, the prophecy of Ausar being “the lesser” Thompson brother was coming true. The following year Amen took a leap, starting in 42 games and being named first team All-Defense. While that was happening Ausar was a part of something that was building in Detroit alongside superstar point guard Cade Cunningham and new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

That season, the Pistons were projected to win 25 games and be the dregs of the Eastern Conference once again. But they instead had a renaissance, finishing 44-38 and the six seed in the Eastern Conference. While they lost in the first round of the playoffs in six games, many realized that this Pistons team was building something viable and would be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

While Cunningham, Bickerstaff, and big man Jalen Duren received an abundance of praise, Ausar Thompson was a key cog into the vortex of defensive toughness that came to the define the Pistons last season. He was the primary point of attack defender for the team—often accepting the assignment against the opposing team’s best scoring option. During that season, Thompson saw increases in his defensive win shares, steal rate, and defensive box plus minus.

What became abundantly clear in that season was that Ausar Thompson was not the less talented brother, but rather an emerging defensive savant in the NBA. A player that is a force to be reckoned with, a pillar of the identity of a rising power in the Eastern Conference.

A Defensive Savant

What makes Ausar Thompson such an interesting defensive player is traced back to his physical traits. At 6’7” with a 7’0” wingspan and exceedingly rare athleticism, he is the prototype of what teams look for in a modern wing physically. He has the ability to guard all five positions because of his size, which allows for a lot of defensive versatility for the Pistons to experiment with.

This season Thompson has logged minutes at every position except for center, proof of the versatility that he brings to JB Bickerstaff’s lineup. His range as a defender has translated directly to his defensive numbers. He has a 1.5% block rate and 3.0% steal rate, ranking in the 94th and 97th percentile among wings respectively. This means that he applies excellent on-ball pressure, plays passing lanes efficiently, and has enough athleticism and recovery speed to competently challenge shooters.

He’s also been an excellent rebounder—ranking in the 98th percentile in offensive rebounding rate and in the 84th percentile in defensive rebounding rate. His biggest flaw currently is his foul rate, which is 4.3% and ranks among the highest among wings.

While the foul rate seems like an indictment, it’s important to note that he is often tasked with guarding players that are potent offensive threats, such as Jalen Brunson (17 matchup minutes), Jalen Johnson (14 matchup minutes), Deni Avdija (12 matchup minutes), and Franz Wagner (11 matchup minutes).

Thompson’s overall defense has improved this season and is a big part of the Piston’s success as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. This year Thompson is 4th in steals, 4th in steals per game, 7th in defensive win shares, 4th in defensive box plus/minus, third in defensive rating, and second in steal rate.

As of this writing, Ausar Thompson has the fifth highest odds of winning Defensive Player of the Year and is likely a shoo-in for All-Defense first team. But despite all of that he finds himself perpetually in that same shadow that he has been in since he was a rookie.

An Undervalued Asset

The Ringer throughout the NBA season ranks the top 100 players in the NBA. At the start of the season Ausar Thompson ranked 91st. At the time of this writing, he is ranked 73rd, and is the 24th ranked forward. His brother Amen is ranked 44th and is the 16th highest ranked forward.

But a look at their production this season indicates that the gap is not as wide as we might think. Amen is the more accomplished scorer, averaging 17.4 points per game to Ausar’s 10.1. But Amen also plays 12 more minutes per night. When viewed on a more level per 36 minutes lens, the gap isn’t as wide. Per 36, Ausar averages 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. Amen meanwhile averaged 16.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per 36 minutes. A big reason for the minute’s disparity goes back to the fouling—Amen averages 2.1 fouls per 36 minutes while Ausar averages 3.9.

On the defensive side of the ball Ausar has a higher steal rate, block rate, and defensive win shares. His defensive box plus/minus is three times higher than Amen’s, an indication that Ausar has simply been the superior defensive player this season. The Pistons are 2nd in the NBA in defensive rating this season, and Ausar Thompson is a huge reason why. His ball pressure helps their entire defensive ecosystem thrive, making the Pistons one of the most physical defensive teams we’ve seen this decade.

And yet despite all this positivity, Ausar Thompson remains somewhat overlooked. A lot of this has to do with his still developing offensive game. He is an athletic phenomenon in the open-court, often making great plays with excellent decision-making. But in a league that covets shooting above all else, he has struggled in that regard.

He is shooting 28% from three on a limited 0.4 attempts per game. He attacks the rim frequently, where 56% of his shots are generated but only converts on 64% of those attempts. He is shooting 37% from mid-range and 27% on corner threes, showing that the skill is there but not quite harnessed yet. That lack of spacing capability on a team with inherent spacing issues with players like Duren and Ron Holland getting major minutes, poses some issues, however.

The irony is that these percentage are not far off from his brother Amen. While Amen is a much better 71% at the rim, he shoots 38% from midrange and 19% on corner threes. The number parallels are fascinating because it has simply been accepted that Amen will develop into the vastly superior offensive talent, but some numbers don’t indicate that. Yet despite those numerical differences, it seems that Ausar Thompson will forever be pigeon-holed as the other brother, as the feisty defender on a contender but not a primary piece.

He is a player that presents multiple elite skills, and yet it feels that he is still undervalued. That he is mainly known as a player that gets physical defensively on a team filled with other physical defenders. He is lost in the shuffle, even in a year where he has been one of the best defenders in the sport.

The importance of this year’s Pistons playoff run is high for many on the roster, but for Ausar it could be a true coming out party. The potential for the entire NBA world to recognize just how good he has become. For a city that prides itself on being overlooked, there is an almost poetic potential here for this hard-working player to gain more notoriety while playing for a city that adores his entire basketball identity. The playoffs will present high-leverage assignments against the likes of Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell that can put the NBA world on notice. A coronation of a player that has rapidly expanded his profile in a short time, to emerge as a truly elite defender in this league.