Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson gave Ausar Thompson a big compliment after his team eliminated the Detroit Pistons in the second round of the 2026 NBA playoffs last month.
They overcame Thompson’s defense with a simple plan – keep the ball away from him.
“The tactical adjustment we made was avoiding Thompson,” Atkinson said after Game 7 on May 17. “We were just like, if he’s near the ball, throw it to someone else. I’ve never experienced that in the NBA. Him and his brother, I’ve never seen anything like it where even if you have a great player with the ball and he’s on it, pass it to someone else.”
The third-year wing was so omnipresent and destructive on that end that the Cavaliers, led by a pair of superstar guards in James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, concluded that going against him wasn’t worth the risk.
Among a long list of plays that prove Atkinson’s point, one stands out. In Game 5, Thompson quickly closed out on Mitchell in the corner and trailed Mitchell as he drove baseline before handing the ball off to 6-foot-9 center Jarrett Allen, who attempted a floater in the lane. Thompson turned, rose and swatted the shot before being fouled in transition on the other end.
In a nutshell, it’s why Thompson is toward the top of the Pistons’ priority list this offseason. He’s eligible for his rookie-scale extension, and the franchise wants to lock him into a long-term deal rather than let him hit restricted free agency after the 2026-27 season.
It was a breakout third campaign for Thompson, whose otherworldly defense was validated during awards season. He finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting, behind winner Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren. Thompson was later named to the All-Defensive first team, becoming the first Pistons player to receive the honor since Ben Wallace in 2005-06.
The playoffs featured a long reel of standout defensive plays by Thompson – a two-handed block in transition on Max Strus, a chasedown swat on Keon Ellis, plenty of backcourt steals and blocks on opposing bigs in the paint. Thompson combines his elite athleticism and leaping ability with an uncanny ability to predict what his opponent will do next.
Through 14 playoff games, Thompson averaged 8.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, two steals and 1.8 blocks per game. Only Wembanyama is averaging more blocks in this postseason, and no one is topping Thompson’s combined blocks and steals. He was the Pistons’ most impactful player, other than Cade Cunningham, and is the main driver of their success on the defensive end this past season.
“Some nights you wish you could put him on all five people because he’s that talented and every position he can make a play for you,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said before Game 6 in Cleveland on May 15. “He can get a stop, he can pick up you fullcourt. He made one of the most remarkable plays I’ve ever seen last game when he blocked that shot coming from the weakside on Jarrett Allen. You don’t see things like that happen. He’s just got that playmaking ability and he’s only going to get better.”
During extension negotiations, the Pistons will have to weigh Thompson’s elite defensive impact against his offensive shortcomings. The most-discussed aspect of his game on that end is his shooting – or lack thereof.
He shot 25% last season beyond the arc, on just 24 attempts – just under half of the 49 3s he took in 2024-25 and an even smaller fraction of his 113 attempts as a rookie. (Those 24 3-point tries, incidentally, are the fewest in a season by a small forward with at least 70 games played and 25 minutes a game since Michael Kidd-Gilchrist attempted two in 2017-18.)
Teams tend to leave Thompson open, cramping the spacing and forcing the Pistons to find other ways to get him involved. He is, at least, capable of attacking closeouts and he has worked on adding a short jumper to his game.
A more realistic path for Thompson’s offensive growth could be as a ballhandler. The Pistons often emphasize to him that they want him to be aggressive. He can leave points on the table by going for contested, contorted layups rather than attacking defenders and dunking or drawing contact. It would allow him to further weaponize his passing ability, which is one of his main strengths. It often leads to points after he grabs an offensive rebound and finds a shooter, or pushes the pace in transition after a defensive rebound.
“He was big-time,” president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said May 19. “I think he took a huge step last year. I think as the season went on you saw how much he impacted the game on both ends of the floor. He put a lot of time into his offensive game last summer. I think he’ll do the same this summer and I think he’ll come back with more confidence.”
Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs, who profiles similar to Thompson as a defensive menace with poor outside shooting, is a point of reference for Thompson’s contract negotiations. Suggs signed a five-year deal worth $150.5 million before the start of the 2024-25 season. ESPN’s Bobby Marks recently predicted a five-year extension worth $162 million for Thompson, a $32.4 million average that tops the $30.1 million annual average salary for Suggs.
“He’s going to be able to go out and do some serious work and I know he’s excited about that,” Langdon said. “You’re not going to have to worry about Ausar Thompson putting in work and competing. That’s one thing about him is he competes at a high level, he’s team-first, he’s going to put in the work and he’s going to listen to the best way he needs to put in the work. We’re excited about our future with him.”
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: With extension talks looming, Ausar Thompson irreplaceable for Pistons
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
