For the last three years of Troy Weaver’s tenure as general manager of the Pistons, the guard position was the primary focus of the NBA Draft.
That trend finally came to an end on Thursday night at Barclays Center in New York.
“With the fifth pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select…,” Adam Silver began before revealing the Pistons’ choice.
The name uttered by the longtime NBA commissioner was Ausar Thompson, a 6-foot-6 forward from the Overtime Elite basketball league. Thompson is the fifth lottery pick added to the Pistons in the past four years, joining Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Killian Hayes and Jaden Ivey — who was selected with the fifth overall pick in 2022.
“I’m super excited,” Thompson told ESPN’s Monica McNutt. “I’m excited to meet my coaches, meet my teammates and just grow with them. I’m trying to contend, ya know?”
Thompson, 20, is a 6-6, 218-pound forward with elite playmaking abilities that can also make a dynamic impact on the defensive end. He averaged 16.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.7 steals during his second year with the City Reapers and was named the Finals MVP in back-to-back Overtime Elite championship seasons.
Thompson’s older identical twin brother, Amen, was selected with the fourth overall pick by the Houston Rockets. Ausar was the first to embrace his older brother when Amen’s name was called by Silver.
“I’m super excited,” Ausar Thompson said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It feels nice to make history with Amen.”
The two Oakland, California natives were birthed one minute apart. They moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida as eighth graders to play varsity basketball at Pinecrest High School, where they won a state championship together during their junior season. They also played for the Florida Pro AAU program along with Central Florida’s Taylor Hendricks, who was selected ninth overall by the Utah Jazz.
The duo skipped their senior seasons of high school to develop their game in the Overtime Elite, a professional basketball league for 16 to 20-year-olds. They are the first players to be drafted from the upstart league, which was founded in 2021.
“I’m always confident,” Thompson said when asked what makes him confident that he’ll find success in the NBA. “I’m always going to believe in myself and I know what I worked on so that’s where the confidence comes from.”
The Thompsons were preceded by No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama, who was unsurprisingly drafted by the San Antonio Spurs. Alabama forward Brandon Miller was selected with the second pick by the Charlotte Hornets over G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson, who went third to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The majority of the last six No. 5 picks have found immediate success. The full list includes Ivey, Orlando guard Jalen Suggs (2021), Cleveland guard Isaac Okoro (2020), Cleveland guard Darius Garland (2019), Atlanta guard Trae Young (2018) and Sacramento guard De’Aaron Fox (2017). Garland, Young and Fox have each earned All-Star appearances.
Thompson is the seventh first-round pick to be drafted under Weaver’s leadership, including Ivey and Duren at Nos. 5 and 13 last year. He selected Cunningham with the No. 1 overall pick in 2021. Thompson joins a young nucleus that also includes Bojan Bogdanovic, Isaiah Stewart, Hayes, James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley III.
Cunningham is no stranger to Ausar Thompson or his brother, as he gave his stamp of approval in a rare tweet last summer.
“Them Thompson twins can play,” Cunningham wrote on July 17, 2022.
The Pistons also hold rights to the 31st overall pick in the draft, which will be announced at approximately 11:03 p.m. There are only 58 picks in this year’s draft because the Philadelphia 76ers and Chicago Bulls each forfeited a second-round pick due to violating rules governing free agency discussions.
In the meantime, another talented young player coming to Detroit.
mcurtis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @MikeACurtis2