{"id":714311,"date":"2026-04-20T01:06:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714311\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T01:06:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:06:56","slug":"ausar-thompson-j-b-bickerstaff-lead-detroit-pistons-award-finalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714311\/","title":{"rendered":"Ausar Thompson, J.B. Bickerstaff lead Detroit Pistons award finalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Pistons<\/a> are getting some awards recognition.<\/p>\n

After a 60-win season and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons have three players (and one coach) nominated for end-of-season awards. They include forward Ausar Thompson<\/a>, center Jalen Duren<\/a>, guard Duncan Robinson<\/a> and coach J.B. Bickerstaff.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Here’s the breakdown.<\/p>\n

1 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Pistons open 2026 NBA playoffs with Game 1 vs Orlando Magic<\/p>\n

Game 1 of first round of NBA Playoff between Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday, April 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Pistons open 2026 NBA playoffs with Game 1 vs Orlando Magic<\/p>\n

Game 1 of first round of NBA Playoff between Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday, April 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Pistons open 2026 NBA playoffs with Game 1 vs Orlando Magic<\/p>\n

Game 1 of first round of NBA Playoff between Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday, April 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3 \/ 3<\/p>\n

Pistons open 2026 NBA playoffs with Game 1 vs Orlando Magic<\/p>\n

Game 1 of first round of NBA Playoff between Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday, April 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW ALONG WITH GAME 1: Pistons vs Magic score updates, channel in Game 1 of NBA playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Ausar Thompson: Defensive Player of Year<\/p>\n

Thompson was named one of three finalists for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year on Sunday, April 19. Oklahoma City<\/a>‘s Chet Holmgren<\/a> and San Antonio<\/a>‘s Victor Wembanyama<\/a> were the other two finalists.<\/p>\n

Thompson is in his third season in the NBA and has arguably grown into the league’s best perimeter defender. He played a career-high 73 games during the regular season, becoming a regular starter for a Pistons team that went from 14 to 60 wins over his three years. Thompson led the NBA with two steals per game and added 0.9 blocks per game.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

If Thompson wins, he would become the third Piston ever to win the award following Dennis Rodman (1989, 1990, 1991) and Ben Wallace (2001, 2003, 2005, 2006).<\/p>\n

\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons forward Ausar Thompson in the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, April 12, 2026 in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Jalen Duren: Most Improved Player<\/p>\n

Additionally, Pistons center Jalen Duren is a finalist for the NBA’s Most Improved Player nod, along with Atlanta<\/a>‘s Nickeil Alexander-Walker<\/a> and Portland<\/a>‘s Deni Avdija<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Duren, the No. 13 overall pick in 2022, made his first All-Star team in his fourth season in the league, averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. His rise is arguably the biggest reason for the Pistons’ rise from a 44-win team in 2024-25 to a 60-win team in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

No Piston has ever won Most Improved Player.<\/p>\n

\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren (0) dribbles the ball against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first half at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday, April 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

Duncan Robinson: Teammate of the Year<\/p>\n

Pistons forward Duncan Robinson was also named one of 12 finalists for the Teammate of the Year Award<\/a>. The finalists include New York Knicks<\/a> point guard Jalen Brunson<\/a>, San Antonio guard De’Aaron Fox<\/a> and Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> forward Marcus Smart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No Piston has ever won this award, though former Piston Chauncey Billups<\/a> won while playing for the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> in 2012-13.<\/p>\n

J.B Bickerstaff: Coach of the Year\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff reacts to a play against Orlando Magic during the first half of Game 1 of the first round of the NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday, April 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff was named a finalist for Coach of the Year for the second straight season. He finished second to Cleveland<\/a>‘s Kenny Atkinson (who replaced Bickerstaff with the Cavs<\/a>) in 2025.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Bickerstaff is in his second season coaching the Pistons and led Detroit to a 30-win improvement between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and another 16-win improvement this season.<\/p>\n

Pistons star Cade Cunningham<\/a>, who got a special exemption from the NBA despite not making the 65-game minimum for awards consideration, was not listed as a finalists for any award (though he can still be considered for an All-NBA team).<\/p>\n

The Defensive Player of the Year winner will be announced on Monday, April 20, at 6 p.m. ET on Peacock, while the Most Improved Player winner will be announced on Friday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

Need\u00a0to catch up on the news during your lunch break?\u00a0Sign up for our Sports Briefing newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to get daily summaries of Detroit sports!\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ausar Thompson Defensive Player of Year leads Pistons award finalists<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Pistons are getting some awards recognition. After a 60-win season and the No. 1 seed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[676,1026,7,1587,909,136,2298,366,305,65885,30293,980,296,188,3860,4958,1409,7149,288,912,135,150,326,6,191,379,475,297,687,969,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-714311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-ausar-thompson","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-bickerstaff","12":"tag-cade-cunningham","13":"tag-cavs","14":"tag-chauncey-billups","15":"tag-chet-holmgren","16":"tag-cleveland","17":"tag-de39aaron-fox","18":"tag-defensive-player","19":"tag-deni-avdija","20":"tag-detroit","21":"tag-detroit-pistons","22":"tag-detroitpistons","23":"tag-duncan-robinson","24":"tag-eastern-conference","25":"tag-finalists","26":"tag-jalen-brunson","27":"tag-jalen-duren","28":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","29":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","30":"tag-marcus-smart","31":"tag-nba","32":"tag-new-york-knicks","33":"tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","34":"tag-oklahoma-city","35":"tag-pistons","36":"tag-portland","37":"tag-san-antonio","38":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}