Draymond Green comes to Pistons’ Ausar Thompson’s defense after controversial no-call

May 15, 2026 - 22:30

After dropping Game 5 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons are against the wall, as they must now win two straight games to avoid elimination from the NBA Playoffs.

There was a controversial moment near the end of regulation of Game 5 in which Detroit’s Ausar Thompson was tripped by Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen, but veteran referee Tony Brothers declined to whistle him for a foul; the Cavaliers then went on to win the game, 117-113 in overtime to take a one-game series lead.

Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green, who attended Michigan State University and was in attendance at Little Caesars Arena for Game 2 of the series, has come to Thompson’s defense by saying Jarrett Allen should have been called for a foul.

“Ausar Thompson got tripped,” Green said via NBA Courtside on X. “Point blank period. Incidental or not. I hate when they say, “Oh, like, yeah, he did trip him, but it was incidental.” Hey man, sometimes I foul, and I didn’t mean to. It was incidental. That’s the nature of basketball. Sometimes you may trip someone and you didn’t try to. You still tripped them. That’s a foul.”

Draymond Green says he thought it was crazy the NBA came out and said it was a no call at the end of the Cavs vs Pistons game 5:
“Ausar Thompson got tripped. Point blank period. Incidental or not. I hate when they say, “Oh, like, yeah, he did trip him, but it was incidental.”… https://t.co/teoieJhPpj pic.twitter.com/VU4aWwglpD
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 15, 2026

According to Brothers, he didn’t whistle Allen because of “incidental contact”.

“During live play, both players were going for the ball, and there was incidental contact with the legs with no player having possession of the ball,” Brothers said via ESPN.

Game 6 between the Pistons and Cavaliers will be played on Friday evening from Rocket Arena in Cleveland; tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

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