Rookie Ausar Thompson Continues NBA Dominance Versus Suns

Ausar Thompson, the Pistons shiniest new rookie, continued to stuff the stat sheet Sunday against Phoenix.

Relative to their draft positioning, Ausar Thompson may very well be the rookie who’s over performed the most to this point. And Sunday’s game versus the Phoenix Suns, despite being a 14-point loss, didn’t deter that notion.

Thompson, a lengthy, high-flying forward with a knack for doing a little bit (or sometimes a lot) of everything, played the second-most minutes behind just star Cade Cunningham. In those minutes, he scored 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and added four assists, steals and blocks apiece.

Even more, he hit two of his three 3-point attempts, one of his major improvement points both in his season with the Overtime Elite and heading into his NBA season.

Prior to the Phoenix matchup, Thompson was already averaging 11.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 blocks per game as Detroit’s starting forward.

Despite being just seven games into his young career, it’s clear that Thompson fits in well next to the Pistons’ core of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren and more as a highly-productive forward capable of playing stingy defense and scoring when needed.

Thompson has already been a positive, but stands to get even better as he’s still just 20.

Despite Thompson's success, the young Pistons have found themselves on a four-game slide, falling to 2-5 on the season. They’ll next look to take on the Golden State Warriors at 7 p.m. CT on Monday, Nov. 6.

Thompson will likely have the tall task of guarding either the Dubs' all-time backcourt, or former All-Star in Andrew Wiggins.

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