{"id":715128,"date":"2026-04-21T11:54:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715128\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:54:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:54:53","slug":"ausar-thompson-is-a-victim-of-circumstances-that-arent-going-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715128\/","title":{"rendered":"Ausar Thompson is a victim of circumstances that aren’t going to change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ausar Thompson finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year award, and in the process, claimed the title of the league\u2019s best perimeter defender, but his path\u00a0to winning Defensive Player of the Year may forever be blocked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Victor\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0took home the award in a unanimous vote, something that has never happened in the history of the NBA. Chet Holmgren came in second, with the voters rewarding\u00a0bigs\u00a0over perimeter players, which\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0anything new.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can debate the value of rim protectors vs. perimeter defenders, but there was no doubt that\u00a0Wemby\u00a0deserved the award, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0one\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0probably going\u00a0to\u00a0win\u00a0for the\u00a0foreseeable future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ausar Thompson may never win because of Victor\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thompson may go down in history as the greatest defender to never win Defensive Player of the Year because he happens to play in the same era as\u00a0Wembanyama, who has a chance to go down as the greatest defender of all time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0hard to overstate what\u00a0Wembanyama\u2019s\u00a0combination of size and quickness does for a defense, as he can cover such large areas of the court without even moving.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wembanyama\u2019s\u00a0ability to affect or block\u00a0nearly everything\u00a0from the free-throw line in, allows his perimeter defenders to play tight and take chances, which they have done this season. No offense to Stephon Castle, who is a great defender himself, but his life is made a whole lot\u00a0easier knowing he has a guy who will clean up any mistakes behind him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can say many of these things about Ausar Thompson, but\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0not defending 1-5 like\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0does,\u00a0and\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0just no way to duplicate what 7-foot-5 means in the middle of a defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be clear, Thompson is one of the best defenders\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0ever watched. He led the league in steals per game and was 3rd (barely) in total steals even though he played fewer minutes (which needs to change<\/a>) than all of the guys ahead of him. He finished just three steals behind Dyson Daniels, who played 600 more minutes.<\/p>\n

In a lot of eras,\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0be a\u00a0clear-cut\u00a0favorite to take home a DPOY award at some point in his career, but this is not one of those eras.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thompson and\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0will be battling for years to come\u00a0<\/p>\n

Injuries seem to be\u00a0Wembanyama\u2019s\u00a0biggest obstacle to winning multiple DPOY awards, especially if the league keeps the\u00a065-game\u00a0rule, as he barely made it this season.\u00a0The Spurs have been careful with their generational star in the regular season, and my guess is that they will continue to be, so the only thing stopping\u00a0Wemby\u00a0is his own availability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ausar Thompson is not going away and is only going to get better himself, so he\u2019ll continue to be right there, and I wouldn\u2019t be shocked to see him finish in the top three several times in his career, but it\u2019s going to be tough for him to claim the top spot as long as\u00a0Wembanyama\u00a0is healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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