Ausar Thompson is a victim of circumstances that aren't going to change

Ausar Thompson finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year award, and in the process, claimed the title of the league’s best perimeter defender, but his path to winning Defensive Player of the Year may forever be blocked. 

Victor Wembanyama took home the award in a unanimous vote, something that has never happened in the history of the NBA. Chet Holmgren came in second, with the voters rewarding bigs over perimeter players, which isn’t anything new. 

You can debate the value of rim protectors vs. perimeter defenders, but there was no doubt that Wemby deserved the award, and it’s one he’s probably going to win for the foreseeable future. 

Ausar Thompson may never win because of Victor Wembanyama 

Thompson may go down in history as the greatest defender to never win Defensive Player of the Year because he happens to play in the same era as Wembanyama, who has a chance to go down as the greatest defender of all time. 

It’s hard to overstate what Wembanyama’s combination of size and quickness does for a defense, as he can cover such large areas of the court without even moving.  

Wembanyama’s ability to affect or block nearly everything from the free-throw line in, allows his perimeter defenders to play tight and take chances, which they have done this season. No offense to Stephon Castle, who is a great defender himself, but his life is made a whole lot easier knowing he has a guy who will clean up any mistakes behind him. 

You can say many of these things about Ausar Thompson, but he’s not defending 1-5 like Wembanyama does, and there’s just no way to duplicate what 7-foot-5 means in the middle of a defense. 

To be clear, Thompson is one of the best defenders I’ve ever watched. He led the league in steals per game and was 3rd (barely) in total steals even though he played fewer minutes (which needs to change) than all of the guys ahead of him. He finished just three steals behind Dyson Daniels, who played 600 more minutes.

In a lot of eras, he’d be a clear-cut favorite to take home a DPOY award at some point in his career, but this is not one of those eras. 

Thompson and Wembanyama will be battling for years to come 

Injuries seem to be Wembanyama’s biggest obstacle to winning multiple DPOY awards, especially if the league keeps the 65-game rule, as he barely made it this season. The Spurs have been careful with their generational star in the regular season, and my guess is that they will continue to be, so the only thing stopping Wemby is his own availability. 

Ausar Thompson is not going away and is only going to get better himself, so he’ll continue to be right there, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him finish in the top three several times in his career, but it’s going to be tough for him to claim the top spot as long as Wembanyama is healthy. 

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