It was a routine stat line for Ausar Thompson on Monday, Oct. 5, during the Detroit Pistons' preseason-opening win over the Phoenix Suns – 10 points, three steals, two assists and a block in 18 minutes at Little Caesars Arena.
But it was the way Thompson scored those 10 points that generated excitement among onlooker. Thompson shot 5-for-8 from the field with three makes from the midrange.
It's not just that Thompson – a reluctant shooter – knocked down three jumpers. It's that he did so off-the-dribble with no hesitation, and with a smoothness that suggests it could become a featured part of his game.
Now entering his fourth season, Thompson, 23, is in position to take a step forward. He earned first-team All-Defense honors last season on a 60-win
Pistons team, the first Piston to earn the award since Ben Wallace in 2006. He spent the offseason working on both sides of the ball, but with an emphasis on offense.
Ausar Thompson 10 PTS (5-8 FG), 2 AST, 2 REB, 3 STL, 1 BLK in 18 minutes vs. Suns
— Role Player Performances (@BenchHighlights) October 6, 2026
That mid-range jumper is looking nice 👀 https://t.co/NO26ckRjzl pic.twitter.com/0gGuj53Wpj
The plan is for a more-aggressive Thompson to take the floor. The Pistons will put the ball in his hands, after signing him to a five-year extension worth $155 million in September. They abandoned that same plan early last season.
But the version of Thompson who took the floor Monday is one opposing teams might have to account for now with the threat of a viable midrange jump shot.
"People are going to have to make an adjustment on how they defend him," coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the team's practice Tuesday in Midtown. "Spacing can be created in so many different ways, and if he’s making that midrange pull-up, it’s still spacing. I know people get caught up in the analytics of it, but his ability to make that shot changes the way teams have to guard him when he has the ball in his hands and even when he doesn’t.
"The confidence to take that shot, the willingness to take that shot is something he’s been working on that he’s continued to get better at."
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It was a breakout third season for Thompson, who averaged 9.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, two steals and nearly a block per game. He was the second-best player on the team during the postseason, largely thanks to the chaos he creates on the defensive end. This summer, Thompson and the Pistons worked to close the delta between his elite defensive presence and an offensive game that has clear holes.
Thompson is a low-volume shooter overall and a non-shooter from 3, taking just 24 3s last season and making six (25%). The percentages obviously can improve, but the bigger issue for Thompson was his passivity. He didn't always attack open lanes in front of him, and often declined to punish teams for leaving him open.
The Pistons want to lean into Thompson's natural playmaking ability more. To maximize the threat of the ball being in his hands, he has to take and make more jumpers. Monday revealed what that may look like.
Though he rarely takes 3-pointers, Thompson attempted 234 shots from midrange (and made 85) last season according to Cleaning The Glass. Most of them came within 4-to-14 feet of the basket (short midrange), but it was a step in the right direction nonetheless. He only knocked down 36% of those midrange shots, in the 25th percentile for his position, per Cleaning The Glass.
Thompson has spent significant time honing his shot mechanics, and it looked more compact against the Suns. The goal is for him to not only take more shots, but of course make a higher percentage.
"The process of breaking it down, building it back up, it’s kinda such a weird process because you don’t notice how much it changes until you look at an old video of it, so I think that's funny," Thompson said of his shooting form during media day. "I feel pretty confident shooting right now.
"Obviously there’s days where I might miss, and I feel like the biggest thing about that is when I miss, a miss is a miss and a make is a make. It’s the mindset you go into the next shot with. I feel like that’s the biggest thing about it and that’s been my goal this summer next shot, next shot, next shot."
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The 109-107 win over the Suns featured several examples of how the Pistons intend to expand Thompson's role this season. He started at point guard in the second half while the Pistons rested Cade Cunningham.
At the start of the game alongside Cunningham, the two alternated handling lead playmaking responsibilities.
"Aggression" has been the key word for Thompson through training camp. The jumper is another tool in his tool box as he learns how to force defenses to bend to his will.
"We’re trying to experiment with different things," Bickerstaff said after Monday's win. "We obviously want Ausar to have the ball in his hands, we really like it. If he takes a jump, our team is going to take a jump. In order to do that he has to get that exposure, so trying to find the right minutes to play out there with him and around him, I think that group had a lot of space, a lot of shooting, good size as well. I just felt like we need to get him more of those opportunities."
"Been working on it most of this summer – getting to spots, raising up," Thompson said during media day Sept. 28. "It all comes with being aggressive, just throwing the punch out there and everything flows, everything’s free."
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
Next up: Wizards
Matchup: Pistons (1-0) at Washington (0-0); exhibition.
Tipoff: 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10; Capital One Arena, Washington.
TV/radio: TV 20 Detroit; WWJ-AM (950).
Streaming: DaZN Detroit.
Regular-season opener: vs. Celtics; 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20; NBC.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ausar Thompson with a jump shot and running the point should scare NBA
