Ausar ThompsonDetroit Pistons · #9
Ausar Thompson is a freakishly athletic two-way wing for the Detroit Pistons and the 2026 NBA All-Defensive First Team selection. The identical twin of Houston's Amen Thompson, he skipped college via Overtime Elite and was drafted 5th overall in 2023. After a blood clot ended his rookie year, he returned to lead the NBA in steals (3.7 per game) in 2025-26 — the first Piston named All-Defensive First Team since Ben Wallace.
Ausar Thompson — the report card
Read his whole game at a glance, then dive into any skill. Grades from the DNA model + real production.
Where Ausar Thompson stands
Live ladders from the Balladex models, and what he's chasing. Rankings recompute nightly from real production, accolades, and search demand.
Ausar Thompson — every number, three levels deep
Headline → metric → the raw history behind it. Real career data; tracking-only metrics labeled.
How the model sees Ausar Thompson
Projection = per-minute rate × projected minutes. Rates are recency- and health-weighted, aged along a per-stat curve, and adjusted for live usage/role. No black box — every number shows its work.
Ausar Thompson career stats, season by season
| Season | GP | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 63 | 25.1 | 8.8 | 6.4 | 1.9 | .483 | .186 |
| 2024-25 | 59 | 22.5 | 10.1 | 5.1 | 2.3 | .535 | .224 |
| 2025-26 | 73 | 26.0 | 9.9 | 5.7 | 3.1 | .525 | .250 |
| Career | 195 | 24.7 | 9.6 | 5.7 | 2.5 |
The Lab
Every number, live and interactive. Real career data; models labeled.
Are the Detroit Pistons built to win?
Team projection rolled up from the roster + last-season baselines — and what it means for his role.
The Ballad of Ausar Thompson
Birth to now — the making of a legend, narrated and scored.
The beginning
A game-changing defensive athlete — the steals-leading, All-Defensive twin at the heart of Detroit's turnaround.
Turning pro
Drafted 5th overall, 2023 as a Forward.
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A survivor and a defensive freak — who came back from a blood clot to lead the NBA in steals.
Chapter
Ausar and his identical twin Amen skipped college via Overtime Elite; Detroit took Ausar 5th in 2023, one pick after Houston took Amen.
Chapter
He blocked five shots in his NBA debut — a teenage record — before a blood clot ended his rookie season.
Off the court
- Height
- 6' 7"
- Weight
- 205 lbs
- Experience
- 3rd Season
- Draft
- 5th overall, 2023
- Born
- Oakland, California
- Age
- 23
- Jersey
- #9
The Thompson twins are one of basketball's great stories: identical brothers, born about a minute apart, who trained together, played together at Overtime Elite, and went back-to-back near the top of the 2023 draft to become NBA defenders on rival teams. Their family is athletic through and through — an older brother, Troy Jr., played at Prairie View A&M, and an uncle, Mark, ran the 400-meter hurdles at the 1992 Olympics.
Ausar's identity is defense and athleticism taken to an extreme, and his career already carries a survivor's arc: a blood clot shut down his rookie season, and he came back to lead the league in steals. On a Pistons team rebuilt around Cade Cunningham, he is the defensive engine — the 'game-changer,' as the Detroit News put it — whose two-way ceiling depends on a developing jump shot.
An explosive, instinctive defensive playmaker — a game-changing athlete still building his offense.
Ausar Thompson — frequently asked
The questions people ask most about Ausar Thompson, answered.
