The Detroit Pistons just handed Ausar Thompson a bag. He inked a five-year, $155 million contract extension to remain with the Pistons well into the future. With that deal, the Pistons will be paying Thompson an average annual value of $31 million per season. That’s around the same number as Mikal Bridges, who just helped the New York Knicks win a championship.
Bridges will make $33.5 million this upcoming season. That’s more than Thompson’s AAV, but only slightly. Bridges has proven capable of being an integral piece of a championship team. Elite defense. Reliable, though sometimes inconsistent, offense. He can play. So can Thompson, but he’s going to have to live up to that contract.
Thompson was paid because of what he can become. Bridges was paid because of what he was, and it worked out. Now, Thompson is going to have to live up to the deal just like Bridges did in New York.
Ausar Thompson will have to match Mikal Bridges contract value
The Knicks gave up an arm and a leg to bring Bridges to New York. They traded a ton of picks to simply get him from the Brooklyn Nets, and once he got to town, they paid him the big bucks.
Bridges inked a four-year, $150 million extension with the Knicks in July of 2025. That deal paid off in a big way for them this season, as he helped them win a title.
Now, the Knicks should feel more than happy to pay Bridges his current contract. That’s the level Thompson will have to work toward now that he’s signed a new deal with the Pistons.
Thompson is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. He’s one of the most disruptive guys on that side of the ball and a true game-changer when he’s on the court.
But at the end of the day, Thompson hasn’t proven enough in the NBA. That’s a great start, but he’s still not a good enough offensive player, and the Pistons haven’t made it past the second round of the playoffs.
By the time the Knicks paid Bridges, he had been a 20-point scorer in Brooklyn and a top role player on a Phoenix Suns team that made the NBA Finals in 2021.
Thompson is a young player. Detroit is betting on potential and overall growth. And in theory, Thompson should make their bet pay off. But he’s far less proven than Bridges.
But he’s going to be making nearly the same amount of money.
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