Ausar Thompson was the underrated star of the NBA Summer League

Ausar Thompson’s summer league performance was criminally underrated

During the NBA Summer League, we’ve seen several second-year players shine and play at an extremely high level, including Jabari Smith Jr., Keegan Murray, and Tari Eason. We’ve also seen some rookies excel, like Leonard Miller and Keyonte George.

While these players have been incredible, one rookie has been on fire but isn’t getting enough recognition for his high-level play on both ends of the floor. Ausar Thompson of the Detroit Pistons. Here’s why Ausar’s summer league performance has been so impressive and why it looks like he could be a star in the future.

Ausar Thompson was a dominant two-way player

Ausar Thompson played four games during the summer league, and he filled the stat sheet, averaging roughly 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks per game while shooting 46.5% from the field.

His first game came on July 8, vs. the Orlando Magic, and he struggled a bit, recording seven points, nine rebounds, three assists, one steal, and three blocks while shooting just 25% from the field. His scoring output was underwhelming during his debut, but he was quite productive in every other area as he grabbed a ton of rebounds and wreaked havoc on defense, especially as a shot blocker.

His second game was much better, as he recorded 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals, and two blocks while shooting 46.2% from the field vs. the Houston Rockets. He filled the stat sheet again but was much more productive as both a scorer and a passer.

Ausar took another leap as a scorer in his third game, scoring 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the field vs. the Toronto Raptors. He was extremely productive outside of his scoring, recording nine rebounds, three assists, four steals, and two blocks. Unfortunately, he was a turnover machine in this game, gifting the Raptors possession of the ball seven times.

His last game vs. the San Antonio Spurs was probably his best, as he recorded 18 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, and one steal while shooting 50% from the field for the second game in a row. He also shot well from three, hitting two of five three-point attempts.

Ausar’s performance during the summer league was very impressive. Some fans may look at his scoring volume and question if he was really that good, but trust me, he has been. You don’t see that many players fill up the stat sheet the way Ausar did.

The most impressive part of his summer league performance was his defense. Ausar’s 2.3 steals per game currently ranks fifth among all players in the summer league, and his 1.8 blocks per game rank 13th (6th among small forwards).

Ausar is a tall wing with great length and elite athleticism, and he uses his physical tools to his advantage on defense. His reaction time is unreal, allowing him to make some unbelievable plays on the ball even when he is out of position. This is a big reason why he was so productive on this end of the floor.

Ausar’s defensive impact metrics look incredibly strong, as he currently ranks second among summer league small forwards in defensive rating and first in defensive win shares. These metrics are imperfect and aren’t the best ways to measure defensive impact. However, we don’t have that much data from the summer league, so this is the best we’ve got. Also, the film matches these numbers, and it’s pretty clear that Ausar has been incredible on defense.

Another impressive part of his summer league performance was his passing. On the surface, his passing numbers look good but not great, as he averaged just 3.4 assists per game and recorded an assist rate of 18%.

However, he ranks top ten among summer league small forwards in both metrics, and his passing productivity is pretty good when you consider that he played off-ball a lot and had a usage rate of just 20%. He would probably record more assists if he had the ball in his hands more often.

I recommend watching his tape to see just how good he was as a passer. His decision-making with the ball in his hands was great, and he consistently made high-level passes, especially on fast breaks. I love how Ausar leveraged his ability to put pressure on the rim to create open shots for his teammates. When he is playing next to other quality NBA players, he can possibly rack up assists at an incredible rate.

Overall, Ausar was incredible and catch-all metrics agree as he ranks second among summer league small forwards in total win shares, which estimates how many wins a player contributes to their team. His two-way dominance was extremely impressive and leads me to believe he could be a star in the NBA someday. It’s rare to see wings with hyper-elite athleticism who possess extremely high feel as a playmaker and wreak havoc on defense.

Ausar Thompson is such a gifted player, and his various elite skills should allow him to become, at minimum, a solid role player at the next level. However, his ceiling is way higher than that, and I could easily see him becoming an all-star someday. He’ll need to work on one thing for that to happen, though.

There’s one thing keeping Ausar Thompson from being special

Although Ausar Thompson was extremely productive on both ends of the floor this summer, there is one area in which he needs to improve if he wants to hit his ultimate ceiling: perimeter shooting.

He has struggled with this for years, as last season, he shot 29.8% from three and 66.2% from the free throw line in the Overtime Elite league. He didn’t attempt many threes, as just 30% of his field goal attempts came from behind the arc.

He wasn’t very good as a three-point shooter this summer either, shooting just 27.3% on 2.7 attempts per game. His free throw shooting was underwhelming too, as he shot just 64.7% from the charity stripe.

This is a big deal because Ausar will not be the Detroit Piston’s primary ball handler, as that role is already filled by Cade Cunningham. This means he will play off the ball as a wing, and it’s hard for players to shine in that role if they aren’t at least solid shooters.

This doesn’t mean that Ausar has to become a great shooter to be impactful as a secondary ball handler, but he needs to get comfortable shooting more threes at the next level. If he doesn’t, I fear that teams will not close out on him when he is open, which will affect the Pistons’ spacing and limit their offensive efficiency.

Luckily for Ausar, he is a fantastic finisher and an elite passer, so his success is not dependent on his long-distance shooting. However, it’s hard to imagine him becoming a perennial all-star unless he finds some way to score outside of finishing at the rim. If that’s all he can do in the NBA, teams will adjust and force him to shoot from the perimeter.

Imagine if he does become a good shooter, though. If that happens, we’re looking at an all-world player whose ceiling might not be just an all-star caliber player. At that point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ausar made an All-NBA team at some point.

I’m getting ahead of myself, but the point is, Ausar Thompson is ridiculously talented, and his production as a passer and defender is already translating to the summer league. There were serious questions about the Thompson twins before the draft and whether or not their production would translate to the NBA, as the OTE league is very different from the NCAA and the NBA.

Well, that hasn’t been an issue so far, as Ausar appears to be the same player he was just a few months ago, which is an elite athlete with an incredible feel as a passer who overwhelms his opponents on defense. It’s rare to see players like Ausar Thompson, and I believe his future is extremely bright. Pistons fans should be very excited because I think they have a future star on their hands.