Ausar Thompson is already one of the most dominant defensive players in the NBA. He's involved in just about everything opponents attempt to do and can disrupt plays from every angle of the court. As Thompson enters a contract year, speculation has inevitably surfaced suggesting that the Detroit Pistons could soon sign him to an extension.
Though it makes sense for the Pistons to do what they can to keep Thompson, they need him to develop a reliable offensive skill to justify a potentially lucrative contract.
Bobby Marks of ESPN wrote in May that he believes Thompson will sign a five-year, $162 million contract extension with the Pistons. The deal would mirror what the Minnesota Timberwolves signed their own perimeter defensive ace, Jaden McDaniels, to in 2023.
Though there's a strong argument that Thompson is a better defensive player than McDaniels, it's worth noting that the Timberwolves wing shot 39.8 percent from beyond the arc the season before he signed his extension.
That created a justifiable degree of faith in McDaniels' ability to become a true two-way player. His shot creation skills have developed well in the seasons since, but it was the fact that Minnesota could believe in an existing facet of his game that made it easy to stomach the lucrative extension.
For the Pistons, Thompson's offensive limitations make the ideal extension rather difficult to define—particularly when he's yet to average more than 26.0 minutes per game.
Ausar Thompson needs a reliable offensive skill to complement defense
Thompson is an excellent offensive rebounder and a skilled passer relative to his position and style of play. That manifested with averages of 4.3 assists and 2.8 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes in 2025-26. In saying that, he's also one of the worst shooters in the NBA.
Extreme as that may sound, Thompson shot just 25.0 percent from beyond the arc and an alarming 57.1 percent at the free throw line—a career-worst mark.
Thompson was, of course, third in Defensive Player of the Year voting after turning the NBA on its head with his elite play on that end of the floor. According to Basketball Index, he ranked in the 99th percentile in matchup difficulty as a defender, perimeter isolation defense, ball screen navigation, and off-ball chaser defense.
Unfortunately, he also shot 19.0 percent on catch-and-shoot threes and 38.1 percent when he was in the paint but outside of the restricted area.
Ausar Thompson's offensive flaws aren't limited to jump shooting
The good news is that Thompson ranked in the 54th percentile in off-ball gravity in 2025-26, per Basketball Index—up from the 37th percentile in 2024-25. The better news is that he improved his shot selection by attempting just 24 threes after putting up 113 as a rookie and 49 in 2024-25.
There's a thin line between smart basketball and taking one's self out of the flow of the offense, however, and Thompson must learn how to toe it if the Pistons are going to be able to play him 30-plus minutes per game.
Detroit can help Thompson by getting him quicker looks at the rim. In 2025-26, he shot 58.8 percent from the field when his touches lasted less than two seconds. Those numbers dipped to 48.2 percent when he had the ball for two-to-six seconds and 38.1 percent when he held it for longer than six.
Thompson must hold up his end of the bargain, however, by improving his catch-and-shoot proficiency to a level that at least requires defenders to get a hand in his face.
Ausar Thompson is an elite defender—but what comes next?
If Thompson can't improve his jumper, then it may only be a matter of time before he gets the Ben Simmons treatment and has teams effectively forcing the Pistons to play 4-on-5 on offense. For one, Thompson is a poor free throw shooter, which opens the door to intentional fouling.
He's also inefficient outside of the restricted area, which could allow teams stack the paint to stop his drives. Detroit has thankfully invested in shooting, but cheating off of Thompson is still a viable strategy.
That creates two action items that Thompson must prioritize this offseason. For one, he must improve his finishing in the paint when he can't get into the restricted area. 38.1 percent simply isn't sufficient for a player whose lone success as a scorer is on the drive.
The next is to improve his free throw shooting. If nothing else, doing so will make it difficult for teams to justify simply sending him to the line if he's getting past them on the drive.
If Thompson checks those boxes, then building out the rest of his offensive game will become a far more manageable task. He'll still need to develop some kind of an outside shot to hold opponents accountable, but solidifying his current style of play as effective will at least buy him time.
If Thompson is unable to at least make those improvements, however, then the Pistons will be gambling with Cade Cunningham's future by signing their defensive ace to a lucrative extension.
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