Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Offers Valuable Advice for Pistons’ Ausar Thompson

Kyrie Irving has a message for Detroit Pistons draft pick, Ausar Thompson.

Oct 20, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) and Detroit Pistons forward Ausar Thompson (9) in action during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

As the Dallas Mavericks are competing for the 2024 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons rookie Ausar Thompson managed to have a public exchange with Dallas’ star guard, Kyrie Irving.

In attendance for one of Kyrie Irving’s press conferences, Thompson was offered the chance to ask Irving a question about his preparation for the following season during the offseason.

As Thompson wanted to know how Irving has managed to stay locked in and take care of his physical health even while going so deep into the year playing at a high level, the All-Star guard offered some valuable advice to the soon-to-be-sophomore.

“I would start off with this, Ausar: try not to get FOMO as best as you can,” Irving told the guard. “Just because you’re so used to playing every day, working out every single day towards a goal. Now that the goal isn’t necessarily there to win a championship, you have to set other goals. That comes from a personal standpoint. What do you want to accomplish bringing into next season? It starts now while no one is watching. It’s just you by yourself, with your brother, or you’re playing five-on-five. Just working on the things everyone said you’re not great at. Or that you could not do, or you see within yourself that you need to improve because you’re seeing how hard it is to get here and how long you have to stay locked in.”

Oct 20, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) and Detroit Pistons forward Ausar Thompson (9) in action during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

After his first year in the NBA, Thompson has a lot to reflect on from a personal standpoint. As Irving mentioned, the key to getting better is identifying the areas that need improvement and working on fine-tuning that department to ensure there’s at least one step in the right direction the following year.

Last season, Thompson appeared in 63 games for the Pistons. As expected, Thompson’s defense outshined his offensive game. Averaging one steal, one block, and six rebounds per game, Thompson proved that the expectations on the defensive end of the floor could be met at the NBA level after he shined in the Overtime Elite League.

It’s no secret Thompson should be focusing on his offensive value this summer. From the field, Thompson hit on 58 percent of his twos. From deep, he knocked down just 19 percent of his threes. Overall, Thompson averaged nine points per game.

As a fifth-overall pick, Thompson is expected to develop into an everyday starter. Through year one, Thompson started in more than half of the games he played. While the Pistons struggled from a team standpoint, winning fewer than 20 games, they should feel good about the fact that Thompson received plenty of minutes and proved he belongs.

But there’s still a lot of work to do. Now, Thompson has to take an NBA Champion’s advice and apply it where he sees fit this summer, as the Pistons look to bounce back after a rough year.