Ausar XLNC Thompson ( ; born January 30, 2003) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He played basketball for

Pine Crest School Pine Crest School is a private preparatory school with campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, Florida. It was founded in Fort Lauderdale in 1934 by Mae McMillan, who also served as the school's first president. The ...

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, where he was rated a five-star recruit and won a state title. Thompson bypassed his senior year of high school to sign with development league

Overtime Elite Overtime Elite is a basketball league for 16–20-year-olds, based in Atlanta, Georgia. The league is owned and operated by Overtime and was founded by Dan Porter and Zack Weiner. History Overtime launched the Overtime Elite basketball leagu ...

(OTE), where he played for two seasons. He won two straight OTE titles, earning Finals

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

(MVP) twice, and was named league MVP in 2023. He is the twin brother of basketball player Amen Thompson. He was selected fifth overall by the Pistons in

2023 NBA draft The 2023 NBA draft, the 77th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 22, 2023, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The draft consisted of 58 picks instead of the typical 60 for the second ...

Early life

Thompson was born to Maya Wilson and Troy Thompson and raised in

San Leandro, California San Leandro (Spanish language, Spanish for "Leander of Seville, St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland, California, Oakland to the northwe ...

. He is of Jamaican descent through his father. His identical twin brother,

Amen Amen (, ; , ; , ; , ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic practices as a concluding word, or as a respons ...

, was born one minute before him; they share the middle name "XLNC" (pronounced "''excellence''"). Thompson’s older brother, Troy Jr., played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for

Prairie View A&M Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas, United States. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two lan ...

. His uncle, Mark Thompson, represented

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

in 400-meter hurdles at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. He and Amen began training for basketball under the guidance of their father by age seven and drew inspiration from

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

. The twins were

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

in sixth and seventh grades to focus on basketball.

High school career

Entering eighth grade, Thompson and his family moved to

so that he and Amen could play high school basketball one year early at

. The twins immediately started for the team. As a sophomore, Thompson averaged 17.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, earning second-team All-

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

honors. Entering his junior season, he was named to the Broward County Fab Five by the ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its Nameplate (publishing), masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ...

''. Thompson averaged 22.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, helping his team win the Class 4A state championship. He shared Broward County Class 5A-1A co-player of the year with Amen.

Recruiting

Thompson was rated a five-star recruit by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

. He gained interest from college programs in 2019, receiving a scholarship offer from

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Following his junior year, Thompson held offers from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, Auburn,

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

and

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, among other programs, before deciding to not play

Professional career

Team Elite (2021–2022)

On May 25, 2021, Thompson signed a two-year contract with

(OTE), a new professional league based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

with players between ages 16 and 20. He joined the league with his brother Amen, bypassing his final year of high school and college. In the 2021–22 season, Thompson played for Team Elite, one of three teams in the league, and averaged 14.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 blocks per game. He competed against other OTE teams, as well as prep-school and

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

opponents. He led his team to the league championship and was named Finals MVP after recording 20 points and 11 rebounds in a 52–45 win over Team OTE in the decisive third game of the finals. Thompson played for OTE affiliate Team Overtime in

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-invitation, single-elimination tournament, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States, with the stakes being a cash prize (the most recent tournament in The Basketball Tournam ...

in July 2022. His team lost to Omaha Blue Crew, 74–70, in the first round of the tournament.

City Reapers (2022–2023)

In the 2022–23 OTE season, Thompson was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the City Reapers and played alongside Amen. On December 12, 2022, he earned league Player of the Week honors. Thompson was selected as Player of the Week for a second time on February 6, 2023, after posting a league single-game record 12 assists, with 17 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes against the Holy Rams. At the end of the regular season, he was named OTE MVP and made the All-OTE First Team, with averages of 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Thompson led the Reapers to the league title in a 3–0

sweep Sweep or swept may refer to: Cleaning * Sweep, the action of using a brush to clean * Chimney sweep, a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys * Street sweeper, a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets * Swept quartz, a cle ...

of the YNG Dreamerz, repeating as Finals MVP. In the final game, he made a game-winning three-pointer with three seconds left. On April 21, 2023, he declared for the

, where analysts viewed him as a potential top-10 pick.

Detroit Pistons (2023–present)

The

selected Thompson with the fifth overall pick in the

, one pick behind his twin brother Amen. They were the first brothers in NBA draft history to be selected in the top five in the same year. On October 25, 2023, Thompson made his NBA regular-season debut, putting up four points, seven rebounds, three assists and five blocks in a 103–102 loss to the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

. Thompson also became the youngest player in NBA history to put up at least five blocks in an NBA debut, at 20 years old and 269 days. Thompson was a part of the roster that lost an NBA record-high 28 straight games in the 2023–24 season. He played in 63 games (38 starts) during his rookie season, averaging 8.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists. On March 20, 2024, Thompson was shut down for the season after being treated for a

blood clot A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

. In 2025 he played in the playoffs for the first time.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

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, 59 , , 48 , , 22.5 , , .535 , , .224 , , .641 , , 5.1 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , , .7 , , 10.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 122 , , 86 , , 23.9 , , .509 , , .198 , , .621 , , 5.8 , , 2.1 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , 9.4

Playoffs

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References

External links

Overtime Elite profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Ausar 2003 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Jamaican descent American twins Basketball players from Alameda County, California Detroit Pistons draft picks Detroit Pistons players Overtime Elite players Pine Crest School alumni Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from San Leandro, California