When those who make a living in the NBA draft industry projected Ausar Thompson as an Andre Iguodala clone in the run-up to last month’s draft, it was nothing more than a loose framework for what type of player he might someday become. When Troy Weaver voluntarily made the comparison on draft night … well, that was another matter. That was worth noting.
General managers throw out such comparisons with great caution. And Weaver, though more transparent than many of his peers, doesn’t make such exclamations recklessly. He has a deep and abiding respect for the body of work amassed by anyone who sticks around the NBA long enough to earn a second contract, never mind the 19 seasons and four NBA titles Iguodala lists on his resume.
With the caveat that extrapolating what happens in a player’s rookie season based on his first Summer League outing is ill-advised – and projecting how his career unfolds based on such flimsy evidence is bonkers – yeah, those comparisons appear grounded on solid footings.
Gifted scorers are rare, great shooters are forever coveted, dominant rebounders will never go out of style and shut-down defenders are on every team’s wish list. But equally unique are the jack-of-all-trades types who do enough things either a little better than average or a lot better than average. If Thompson can fit into that bucket, something that looks within his reach, it will go down as one of Weaver’s best moves.
Maybe Thompson one day will mature into a 20-points-a-night scorer and a 40 percent 3-point shooter and, if that happens, they’ll be hanging his jersey from the rafters. But he showed in frequent glimpses in his Summer League debut that he can do several things at a high enough level that maybe his No. 9 will hang there regardless.
“Man, that kid – well, not kid; I think we’re the same age,” said Jalen Duren, who is, in fact, about 10 months Thompson’s junior, “that guy, he’s a special talent. Right away, you just see the length and athleticism he brings to the game and the IQ. He’s still very raw. The way he affects the game on both ends of the floor is amazing.”
Exactly. Still very raw, still some combination of athletic enough, smart enough, big enough and competitive enough to stand out on a day he scored seven points – but also contributed nine rebounds, three blocked shots, three assists and a steal while committing only two of his team’s 22 turnovers in a typically frenetic Summer League affair.
You get the sense that if Thompson plays five Summer League games, he might leave five different favorable impressions. It might be his defense that makes the biggest impact, it might be his rebounding, it might be his cutting.
On Saturday, it was his vision and passing ability. His one-hand dart from just over the timeline that hit James Wiseman in his sweet spot, threaded through two defenders sandwiching him, was dazzling. The defensive rebound and one-man fast break that culminated in a cross-body pinpoint pass to Jared Rhoden for a corner three was lethal – simple, risk-free, perfect.
“At the core of him, he makes winning plays,” Summer League coach Jarrett Jack said. “Fifty-fifty balls, trench rebounds, cutting, pushing the basketball, making the extra pass, sacrificing himself in some instances to cut so somebody can get the extra pass on the back side – that’s something you can’t teach. I’m excited for his growth.”
When the Pistons brought Duren and Jaden Ivey into the fold in the 2022 draft, the holdovers immediately acknowledged the two newcomers were a different cut of athlete than anyone else on the roster. Ivey is an elite athlete even by the absurd standards of NBA athletes, but even he just shakes his head discussing Thompson’s athleticism.
“He just … floats,” Ivey said. “A layup, you could just tell. It’s something different about him that I’ve never seen before. It’s like he floats in the air when he jumps. A lot of my teammates have seen it and noticed it.”
You get the chance for special outcomes when you combine Thompson-level athleticism with the sort of IQ the 20-year-old suggested he possesses in his unveiling.
The other Pistons rookie, Marcus Sasser, spent four years at Houston and comes to the Pistons as a first-team All-American with an NBA-ready 3-point shot and a defensive tenacity sharpened under the stern gaze of veteran coach Kelvin Sampson. The Pistons personnel department fell in love with Sasser for his character, talent and toughness. Sasser doesn’t seem the type to hand out platitudes carelessly. Thompson’s won him over, too.
“As time goes on, I feel he’ll get more comfortable and the scoring will come for him,” Sasser said. “He’s a great playmaker. Because of his height and how athletic he is, he can see the floor very well so he makes real good passes. He makes a lot of winning plays. I think that’s something that gets overlooked. But I think he’s a plus every time he’s on the floor.”
And that is the essence of what makes a player someone every franchise desires, what allows a player to stick around for a decade or in very rare instances – hello, Mr. Iguodala – maybe two decades. It’s a comparison no one should make lightly. But on the first day of Ausar Thompson’s career, it doesn’t feel wrong.