Seven pairs of twins have played in the NBA, but only one duo saw both brothers drafted in the top 10. They also happen to be among the league’s most recent entrants, so you’ve probably heard of them.
Together, they’re known as the Thompson twins, but the average NBA fan will have to be able to tell them apart sooner rather than later, because these boys—Amen and Ausar—are going straight to the top of the league.
As you might expect from a pair of identical twins who’ve spent almost their entire basketball lives together, the Thompsons have similar frames and skill sets. They both stand at 6-foot-7, weigh about 210 to 215 pounds and are considered some of the NBA’s purest athletes despite their young age.
That athleticism made their scouting profiles extremely tantalizing; their combination of prototypical wing size with top-tier mobility made them high-level defenders at the most important position. The Thompson twins projected as the rare type of player who can both shut down explosive, smaller guards and trouble the NBA’s bigger wing scorers, like a Jayson Tatum or a Kawhi Leonard, with their 7-foot wingspans.
Moreover, their defense wasn’t just theoretical — they showed it in the Overtime Elite league, a developmental league that pays its 16-to-20-year-old players while also permitting them to finish a high school education. In the OTE regular season, Ausar averaged 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, while Amen posted similar 2.3 and 0.9 figures of his own, respectively. You can pick holes in the translatability of OTE stats, since basketball scouts consider it a lower level of play than college ball, but dismissing those numbers entirely misses the forest for the trees. It’s indisputable that they play strong defense.
We know that because it immediately showed in their NBA performances. Amen, who the Rockets selected fourth overall, has averaged 1.3 steals and 0.6 blocks per game this season while tallying 2.3 defensive win shares. And again, Ausar (No. 5 overall to the Detroit Pistons) had a scarily similar impact: 1.1 steals, 0.9 blocks and 1.7 defensive win shares.
Defensive win shares, for the uninitiated, measures the approximate number of wins an individual player added with their defense. Per Basketball Reference’s formula, win shares can even be negative, so any rookie posting positive numbers should be considered a success. Plus, the Thompson twins’ numbers look even more impressive when you compare their figure to that of Kawhi Leonard’s, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and long-considered one of the NBA’s best wing defenders. Leonard has posted 2.7 defensive win shares this season, so the twins aren’t lagging far behind one of the NBA’s best stoppers.
But the Rockets and Pistons didn’t just draft Amen and Ausar respectively for their defense. You can find solid-to-exceptional one-on-one defenders as late as the second round, like when the Pelicans took Herb Jones at 35 overall. Now, the Thompsons might have higher defensive ceilings than Jones, but they also displayed strong ball-handling and passing ability in OTE, which made them desirable playmakers who had the size and athleticism to trouble any defender in a pick-and-roll or driving situation.
Without those traits, Amen and Ausar would be little more than pure defensive and effort-based prospects, because their potential as shooters remains questionable at best. Both brothers have shot well under 20% from three-point range so far in their NBA careers and their respective field goal percentages, both of which hover around 50%, are buoyed by strong finishing around the basket. 75.2% of Amen’s field goal attempts come within 10 feet of the hoop, and Ausar takes 66% of his shots in the same range.
As long as they spend a lot of possessions as primary ball-handlers and on-ball creators, they can squeak by as suboptimal shooters, but Houston and Detroit would surely like them to at least cultivate a little respect from behind the arc.
Unfortunately for Ausar, a blood clot prematurely ended his season, pausing his development for the time being. But Amen’s Rockets just went on an 11-game win streak and have a puncher’s chance of making the Play-In in the Western Conference, so we may be seeing more of him in the postseason. Let’s check out some film to see how the brothers have adapted to the league so far:
If you needed any additional proof of Ausar’s quickness or confidence with the ball in his hands, just watch him torch Bobby Portis Jr. in this Pistons vs. Bucks game.
Ausar receives the ball at the three-point line and immediately attacks Portis. First, Ausar’s sideways pump forces Portis to belatedly switch the direction of his stance, at which point Ausar is trying to blow past him. Despite his speed advantage, Ausar appears to recognize that Giannis Antetokounmpo is in position to play help defense inside of Portis, so Ausar does a spin move back in the other direction to find space. Portis spins and almost closes down Ausar perfectly, but the OTE graduate just leaps up to the hoop and lays in an easy one.
Later in the same game, Ausar attacked Giannis at the rim, which had an expectedly amusing result.
Ausar again receives the ball from behind the arc in space and drives immediately. Giannis steps out to contest and Ausar jumps up, seemingly to attempt a long-distance layup. Giannis awkwardly blocks him but Ausar hustles to grab the deflection, takes a dribble-step back out from under the hoop, puts his shoulder into Giannis, then makes a hook shot over both the Greek Freak and Brook Lopez, one of the league’s best veteran rim protectors. The play highlighted his youthful arrogance and exuberance, but also the athleticism and motor that make him such a threat.
And finally, we had to highlight Ausar’s defense. The way he jumps out to not just contest, but block this three-pointer against his brother Amen’s Rockets is just absurd.
Now, time for Amen to shine. We’re going to start on the defensive end here, with this hyper-fluid block on the Portland Trail Blazers’ Justin Minaya.
Full disclosure: I didn’t know who Minaya was before watching this highlight. Apparently, he was an undrafted guy who has mostly played G League ball. So, yeah, not exactly the biggest challenge for Amen. But that’s the thing: Amen makes this block look like child’s play. He completely smothers Minaya all the way to the basket and contests effortlessly. Still just 21 years old, the admittedly raw Amen made a professional hooper look silly for even trying to put up that shot.
And even though the league has somewhat moved away from the ‘small ball’ style the Golden State Warriors played in their title-winning seasons, Amen’s (and his brother’s) lack of a real three-pointer make them well-suited to playing a possession here or there at the five, just to give the opponent an unexpected look. Watch Amen sit in the dunker spot here and score off an audacious lob:
Is the Trail Blazers’ defense diabolically bad there? Yes, but I’m not here to tell Chauncey Billups how to coach, just to explain how awesome Amen and Ausar are.
And finally, good luck trying to stop Amen in transition.
In order to become All-Stars or even just contributors deserving of a nine-digit second contract, the Thompson twins will need to develop some semblance of a jumper. It’s just hard to exist without for any position and role in this league, from a true point guard to even the stockiest of big men. But if they become just average shooters, their combination of shut-down defense and reliable ball-handling and offensive initiation make them game-breakers from coast to coast on the court.