Ausar Thompson wins the steals title at exactly 2.00, the first Piston to lead since 1979

DETROIT — Oct. 15, 2026 — Ausar Thompson finished 2025-26 as the NBA’s steals-per-game leader at exactly 2.00. He had 146 steals in 73 games, per Basketball-Reference, and became the first Detroit Piston to win the per-game steals title since M.L. Carr averaged 2.46 in 1978-79.

It was not a runaway. Dyson Daniels, the 2024-25 champion at 3.01, finished at 1.96. Cason Wallace of Oklahoma City actually had the most steals of anyone, 150, but over 77 games that works out to 1.95 a night. Thompson and Daniels both show 2.0 on the rounded leaderboard; Thompson’s extra hundredths decided the title.

The 2025-26 steals race

Steals per game among qualified players (58 games minimum), per Basketball-Reference:

• Ausar Thompson, Pistons: 2.00 (146 in 73 games)
• Dyson Daniels, Hawks: 1.96 (149 in 76)
• Cason Wallace, Thunder: 1.95 (150 in 77)
• Kawhi Leonard, Clippers: 1.88 (122 in 65)
• Tyrese Maxey, 76ers: 1.86 (130 in 70)

The total-steals board flips the top three: Wallace 150, Daniels 149, Thompson 146. Kris Dunn of the Clippers was fourth with 131. The per-game title went to the man who missed the most games of the three, because he made his 73 count.

Doing it in 26 minutes

Thompson averaged 26.0 minutes, fewer than Wallace (26.6) and well short of Daniels (33.2). Daniels logged 2,520 minutes to Thompson’s 1,896. Per 36 minutes, Thompson created 2.77 steals, compared with 2.64 for Wallace and 2.13 for Daniels.

His steal percentage, an estimate of the share of opponent possessions that ended with him taking the ball while he was on the floor, was 3.7. That led the league ahead of Wallace (3.5) and Phoenix’s Jordan Goodwin (3.3). Thompson also ranked third in individual defensive rating at 105.5, behind only Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren.

The voting reflected it. Thompson made the All-Defensive First Team and finished third for Defensive Player of the Year, according to Basketball-Reference’s awards record, in his third NBA season after Detroit drafted him fifth overall in 2023.

A low winning mark, by recent standards

At 2.00, Thompson’s average is the lowest to lead the league since OG Anunoby’s 1.91 for Toronto in 2022-23. De’Aaron Fox won at 2.03 in 2023-24 before Daniels jumped to 3.01, the highest winning mark since Alvin Robertson’s 3.04 in 1990-91. Rather than one player running away from the field, 2025-26 produced a three-way finish separated by five hundredths.

The pressure carried into the spring. The NBA noted that Thompson had 16 steals and 16 blocks in Detroit’s first-round series, joining LeBron James (2016), Ben Wallace (2003 and 2004) and Gar Heard (1976) as the only players since 1973-74 with at least 15 of each in a single series.

Ausar Thompson in Round 1:

🔒 16 blocks (T-1st in the NBA)
🔒 16 steals (T-1st in the NBA)@ThompsonAusar joined LeBron James (2016), Ben Wallace (2003 & 2004) & Gar Heard (1976) as the only players since 1973-74 to post 15+ steals and 15+ blocks in a single series! pic.twitter.com/yv0W7CIIwl

— NBA (@NBA) May 5, 2026

Thompson enters 2026-27 as the defending steals champion, with the regular season opening October 20. On the current preseason board, De’Anthony Melton and Jordan Goodwin share the single-game high at six steals.