The Pistons will ease Ausar Thompson’s split with twin brother Amen by making him part of a dynamic set of triplets. Thompson, taken at No. 5 by the Pistons in Thursday’s NBA draft, will join fellow high lottery picks Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey in giving the Pistons a perimeter trio that blends size, athleticism and playmaking ability in breathtaking doses.
Thompson, an electric athlete at 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot wingspan, adds to the young talent general manager Troy Weaver has stocked on the roster over the last three years spanning four drafts. At 20, Thompson will fit on a roster with seven players 22 or younger including Cunningham, Ivey, Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, James Wiseman and Killian Hayes.
“He adds to our culture,” said Weaver, who added that Thompson was the player the Pistons had targeted going into the night. “We got a great person, tremendous worker, tremendous human being. Great athlete. We think he has a chance to be an elite defender on the perimeter.”
“I’m super happy to be a Detroit Piston,” Thompson said from New York where he joined his brother and family in the draft’s green room. “When I heard my name called, I was excited. That’s the team I wanted to go to after I had that meeting (during his visit to Detroit). I felt their team was going in a great direction.”
Weaver – for the third time in four drafts – acquired an extra first-round pick, trading No. 31 and future draft capital to Boston for the 25th pick. He used it to get Marcus Sasser, a senior who led Houston in scoring at 16.8 points a game. The trade won’t be official until the three-team trade between Boston, Memphis and Washington that made Kristaps Porzingis a Celtic and sent Marcus Smart is Memphis is finalized.
Sasser is a bucket-getter who connected on 38.4 percent of his 3-point shots on high volume and was known as a hard-nosed, clutch performer for one of college basketball’s top programs. And he perfectly fits Weaver’s ideal Pistons profile for toughness, grit and someone who competes hard at the defensive end.
But Thompson will be the player the Pistons expect to make an impact on both ends very quickly. Weaver feels he’ll mesh especially well with Cunningham and Ivey.
“I think he’ll take a lot of pressure off of Cade and Jaden, being able to defend the best perimeter player on the other team. He’s more than a defender. He’s dynamic with the ball. His offense is really underrated. I think you’ll see it in time, but we’re excited to get this guy.”
The first four picks went as expected with Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller, Scoot Henderson and Amen Thompson – Ausar’s identical twin – going before the Pistons went on the clock.
Ausar Thompson was MVP of Overtime Elite, a relatively new breeding ground that provides intensive training for players who choose to bypass college, for both its regular season and playoffs. The scouting report on Thompson lauds his defensive tenacity and versatility, his vision as a secondary playmaker and his ability to beat defenses off the dribble.
“I feel like with my size and my quickness, defense has always been a part of me,” Thompson said. “When I’m having a bad game offensively, I want to stay on the court. How do I stay on the court? I learned that was defense. Teams that win championships play defense, so I’m just trying to bring that to Detroit.”
The most commonly cited question mark is Thompson’s 3-point shot, but he hit 38.5 percent from the arc in the OTE playoffs on nearly eight attempts a game.
“I’ve gotten a lot better at it,” Thompson said. “I’m going to work at it. I’m actually very confident shooting.”
“He’s a monster in the open court and in half-court he can get downhill,” Weaver said. “His shooting numbers will be better than we’ve seen, for sure. And he can definitely make a play with the ball. I think he has a budding offensive skill set, plays the right way.”
Thompson said he sees himself meshing well with Cunningham and Ivey. He compared the trio to Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams and in keeping with NBA trends.
“I just feel like they’re going the way of the modern NBA – have three guys who can facilitate, run the floor, cut. Cade’s 6-7, 220, 230, so just bigger bodies, bigger guards. Jaden Ivey is super fast from what I’ve seen. … It’s kind of what the NBA is going to.”
Weaver gave the Pistons roster a double-jolt of needed athleticism in the 2022 draft by taking Ivey and Duren in the lottery, players widely hailed as the two best athletes in that draft class. They’ll get stiff competition from Thompson for the title of best athlete in the Pistons locker room.
“We wanted to make sure we get our defense in order and this guy’s athleticism – especially defensively – really adds to our talent base,” Weaver said. “It lends itself to coach (Monty) Williams and his staff having a guy that can defend at a high level, ones, twos and threes. You get big-time athletes, they can give you a bigger margin of error and he definitely adds to us having more athleticism.”
The Thompson twins become the first set of brothers drafted in the top 10 of the same draft and the third set of twins to be drafted with consecutive picks. Dick and Tom Van Arsdale were picked 13th and 14th – Tom by the Pistons – in 1965 and Markieff and Marcus Morris were taken 13th and 14th in the 2011 draft.