Ron Holland shoots at Pistons practice with shooting coach Fred Vinson
Ron Holland shoots at Detroit Pistons practice with shooting coach Fred Vinson, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025 at the Pistons Performance Center.
To unlock Ausar Thompson’s game, the Detroit Pistons are putting the ball in his hands.
The third-year forward will spend more time as the team’s de facto point guard this season, even while sharing the floor with Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. Thompson already is a skilled connective passer, particularly in transition, but he hasn’t had as many opportunities running pick-and-rolls and creating plays in halfcourt scenarios.
As one of the league’s elite athletes, Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, Thompson getting the ball will speed up the offense and take pressure off Cunningham and Ivey, who were staggered at point guard last season before Ivey’s season-ending broken leg on Jan. 1.
“That’s something that we’re going to do more of,” Bickerstaff said after the team’s practice Tuesday, Oct. 7. “The tempo that he plays at when he has the ball in his hands and the threat that he becomes when he has the ball in his hands, it changes the way that teams have to guard him. He has the ability to make his teammates better.
“He’s playing at that tempo, pushing the ball it forces everybody else to run and we just become a faster basketball team, and we’ve got so many dynamic players on the wing and our bigs that it’s going to be hard to guard us when we’re pushing and playing at that pace.”
Bickerstaff previewed a Thompson-led lineup during Monday’s preseason win over the Memphis Grizzlies, with Thompson, Ron Holland, Duncan Robinson, Caris LeVert and Isaiah Stewart opening the second quarter. Thompson had nice moments with the ball, including a pair of coast-to-coast finishes — one leading to a dunk after losing Grizzlies wing Jaylen Wells with an in-and-out-dribble, the second a floater through contact.
He also had three assists and a pair of steals. He and Holland flew up and down the floor, creating fastbreak opportunities and changing the pace of the game in the Pistons’ favor after the Grizzlies led by 18 at the end of the opening quarter.
Bickerstaff said Cunningham will benefit from the pressure Thompson can generate with the ball.
“It’s one of those things where if teams decide they want to pick Cade up fullcourt, sometimes because of the gravity he holds people are just hung up on him, so now you can play advantageous situations off of him,” he said. “Now his defender has to play off a screen or off a shift and it just makes him a better offensive player when people can’t get their hands on him and wrestle and hold him.
“We want to put the ball in A.T.’s hands more, and then again, getting Cade off the ball just brings another dynamic to our offense,” Bickerstaff continued. “As we continue to grow the foundation of our offense and our system on both sides of the ball, we will always look to add different things that can make us better.”
The Pistons mixed in on-ball reps for Thompson last season, particularly later in the year once he got up to speed after returning from a blood clot diagnosis. Prior to being drafted, Thompson and his twin brother, Houston Rockets wing Amen Thompson, took turns running the offense for Overtime Elite.
Playmaking has long been a key aspect of his game. He’s ready for it to expand.
“Whatever the team needs me to do, I’m there to do it,” he said during the Pistons’ media day last week. “If they need me to be a ball-handler for a night, I’m extremely confident with that and confident and I’m willing to do that.
I’m aggressive all the time on defense, but to put that on the offensive side as well and go out there with a mindset to be aggressive and not necessarily force shots or anything, still playing team basketball, but force the issue a little bit.”
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