Have the Detroit Pistons completed their young core of the future after the 2023 NBA Draft?

The Pistons entered Thursday's draft with a need to add depth that could improve the team's defense. Detroit ended last season with a defensive rating, or “the number of points allowed per 100 possessions by a team,” of 117.8, according to NBA.com. The figure put them at 27th in the NBA with spots behind the Indiana Pacers, Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings.

11 players can return to Detroit for the 2023-24 season, according to sports contract and salary website Spotrac. Guards Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and forward Bojan Bogdanovic highlight the players under contract for Detroit next season. Forwards Eugene Omoruyi, Eugene Omoruyi and guard Alec Burks are listed with player options for next season. Guards Hamidou Diallo, Cory Joseph and Rodney McGruder are listed as unrestricted free agents.

What was the best move the Pistons made on draft night?

Drafting Ausar Thompson

The Pistons drafted Overtime Elite guard Ausar Thompson with the No. 5 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-7-inch guard signed with Overtime Elite in 2021. He averaged 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game as a member of the City Reapers last season.

Pistons general manager Troy Weaver praised the 20-year-old guard after taking him in with the fifth pick Thursday evening.

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“He adds to our culture,” Weaver said, via MLive. “We got a great person, tremendous worker, tremendous human being. Great athlete. We think he has a chance to be a elite defender on the perimeter.

“I think he'll take a lot of pressure off of Cade (Cunningham) and Jaden (Ivey) being able to defend the best perimeter player on the other team. But he's more than defender.”

Thompson said he was familiar with Cunningham's game in a Thursday article from The Athletic Pistons Staff Writer James L. Edwards III.

“I'm very familiar with Cade's game,” Thompson said. “That's my teammate. Coming out of high school, everyone looks up to him. Cade was my favorite player in that draft. I said he was going to be the first pick. I was telling Amen that. It's funny. He thought it was going to be Jalen Green, and now he's with him in Houston.

“I'm very familiar with all of their games. Jaden Ivey is super fast, underrated facilitator and very athletic. James Wiseman, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart … big bodies in the paint. Marvin Bagley. I know everyone. I'm a big basketball fan.”

Thompson can be a solid fit for the Pistons if he can be the perimeter defender Weaver hoped he could be. He will need to improve his efficiency from the 3-point line after hitting 29.8% of his 3-point attempts last season. Detroit made 35.3% of its 3-point shots last season, putting it at 21st in the league behind the Utah Jazz, the New York Knicks and Washington Wizards.

Selecting Thompson also freed Detroit's ability to try and address other needs later in the draft. The Pistons traded up six spots in the NBA Draft to select Houston guard Marcus Sasser. They sent two future second-round selections to take the No. 25 pick.

Sasser, a former 3-star recruit from Dallas, Texas, spent the last four years with the Houston Cougars. He earned averages of 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game during his four-year college career. The 6-foot-2-inch guard led Houston in scoring with 16.8 points per game last season.