The Rapid Ascent of NBA Twins Amen and Ausar Thompson

Following the Denver Nuggets` victory over the Houston Rockets in late March, which halted the Rockets` nine-game winning streak, Amen Thompson stood before his teammates at their new 75,000-square-foot training facility.

Finally, it was his turn in the team-bonding activity: Share your life story in five minutes.

“Everybody goes over the time,” Thompson recalled.

He couldn`t help it.

Sharing essentially the same story for himself and his identical twin brother, Ausar Thompson, born a minute later, the soft-spoken Amen explained to his attentively listening teammates how he grew up near Oakland, California, in a supportive family. This family played a crucial role in helping them manifest the dreams they had jotted down on a family vision board when they were just 9 years old.

“They`re like that if you know their background and history,” Houston coach Ime Udoka commented. “So, we got to learn a little bit more about Amen`s background than we already knew. Anytime you have a twin brother that`s in the position that they`re in, you just know they came up going at each other. Their father [Troy Thompson] got after them and obviously grew them into who they are. Their competitiveness was always there.”

Amen and Ausar, now 22, are the first twins in NBA history to be drafted in the top five (Amen went No. 4 to the Rockets, Ausar No. 5 to the Detroit Pistons). They are both making their playoff debuts in their second seasons, serving as foundational pieces for franchises on the rise.

Amen admitted he “wasn`t expecting it,” adding that Ausar “always believed since last year” that the twins would seriously contend for a Larry O`Brien Trophy in 2025.

“It`s super cool,” Ausar stated. “Last year, Amen was talking a lot about us. They had 41 wins. We had 14. He was like, `Flip the number around and that`s how many wins y`all got.` But I was like, it doesn`t matter. Y`all didn`t make the playoffs. We didn`t make the playoffs. Now he can`t say that. We made the playoffs the same year. All he can say is they`ve got a better record. I promise you next year it won`t be.”

Amen`s Rockets are currently down 0-1 to the Golden State Warriors and will aim to tie the series on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Ausar and the Pistons ended a 15-game postseason losing streak, the longest in NBA history, with a win over the New York Knicks on Monday night and will look to take a 2-1 lead as the series moves to Detroit on Thursday.

For now, though, Amen is focused on the present. While he`s “not doubting [Ausar`s predictions] anymore,” he envisions a grander picture for both the Rockets and the Pistons in the 2025 playoffs.

“I want to see him in the Finals,” Amen told ESPN. “That would be fire. But just one of us wins. I know who that`s going to be.”

Clearly, the brothers disagree.

“Man, we would whoop `em,” Ausar declared. “This year, when we played, when we had all of our players, we beat them.”

ON THE NIGHT the Rockets defeated the Utah Jazz 143-105 to become the second Western Conference team to clinch a playoff spot, Amen relaxed at his locker in the Toyota Center, chuckling as he reminisced about his family`s vision board.

The twins` mother, Maya Wilson, prohibited them from playing football. By age 7, their father, Troy, was running Amen and Ausar through basketball drills he had created years earlier for their older brother, Troy Jr., who played at Prairie View A&M and whom the twins regard as “the blueprint” for their own success.

That daily commitment sparked a dream for the twins, who share the middle name XLNC (pronounced `excellency`).

“They`re special people,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff noted about the Thompson family. “You can tell they instilled in them that the team was greater than any individual and that there was more to it than just being a good basketball player, and the importance of being able to take care of yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, all of it.”

Affixed to a wall with thumbtacks, written in impressive handwriting for 9-year-olds, the Thompson family vision board was titled “Amen & Ausar`s 6`9` Dreams,” styled like graffiti with markers above a drawing of a black-and-white camouflage Nike Air Foamposite One sneaker. Below this, their goals were listed, each marked with a star.

• Become The Greatest NBA Player of All-Time
• Become a Multi-Billionaire
• Get a shoe company
• Become 6 ft. 9 inch[es]

“Yeah, my dad always believed in writing down what you wanted to do,” Amen explained. “It`s writing down like basically just affirmations. I forget what I wrote. But it was just writing it down so that we have a guideline and things we needed to do to get there.”

Below the goals, the twins wrote a 10-step daily to-do list just above their signatures scribbled in cursive.

“Some of the stuff in there was kind of crazy,” Amen admitted. “We used to do it, though. But some of that stuff was hard to do every day.”

No. 1 on the list was “run 2 miles dribbling left-handed,” followed by “200 pushups, 200 sit-ups, 50 pull-ups, 500 calf raises, squat while watching TV.” The last two steps were “eat vitamins every day, healthy foods, and milk,” concluding with No. 10: “hustle as hard as possible always.”

Troy always wanted the boys to compete with the same intense ferocity and hustle as Russell Westbrook. They adopted this approach. Eventually, friendly pickup games escalated into arguments and even brawls. It reached a point where Troy no longer wanted his twins to play against each other one-on-one.

“Whoever lost would just start fighting and stuff,” Amen recalled. Ausar claims “it was always Amen who started it,” which Amen does not deny.

“He would get so mad,” Ausar said. “We`d get home, and he`d still be mad. Our dad would be like, `Alright, we`re going on a spiritual walk.` And it would be just him and my dad, and they`d walk maybe like 4 miles. It`s funny.”

In one instance, Amen said a scuffle he initiated resulted in a 14-mile hike.

“I would be so mad, especially if Ausar didn`t have to go, and it was just me on the hike,” Amen said.

Did Amen`s punishments make Ausar feel guilty?

“Hell no,” Ausar responded. “He was trying to hurt me. I would try to go home, and he just wouldn`t let us go home [until he won]. So, it`s like, `Yeah, you don`t want to go home? Go do that spiritual walk up the hills.`”

The competitiveness extended to high school at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they transferred after leaving California just before starting the eighth grade. Known for its academics, Pine Crest allowed Amen and Ausar to play varsity basketball as eighth graders.

By the end of their junior season, they had dominated for four years on varsity, leading Pine Crest to a state championship and earning Co-Players of the Year honors for Classes 4A-2A. The opportunity to join Atlanta-based Overtime Elite (OTE), a new professional basketball league offering athletes an alternative route to the NBA, arose during the AAU season.

They decided to skip their senior year at Pine Crest to commit to OTE, drawn by the league`s 24-hour gym access, NBA-level trainers and coaches, and top-notch competition — not to mention the minimum $100,000 salary.

Amen said he immediately saw improvements in his game.

“But I still feel like when we were in the predraft [process], because we were on OTE, people thought we were not going to be ready for the league because they said we were playing against 15- and 16-year-olds,” Amen told ESPN. “Just making up lies for a narrative. We played up our whole lives. And if I`m running [away from competition], I can only run for so long. We`ve always wanted to be the best. You can`t be the best and run.”

The 6-foot-7 twins with wingspans of nearly 7 feet played two seasons with OTE before Houston and Detroit selected Amen and Ausar fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 2023 NBA draft.

“Everybody says they have dogs on their teams,” Udoka commented. “Some are pit bulls and some are poodles. We try to go get pit bulls. He`s exactly what we want, need, look for, all of the above. We love guys with his length, athleticism and versatility. He fits. Everything he brings to the table, we were thrilled to get him at the spot we got him. He was the guy we fell in love with. He fits everything. He fits the mold of the modern-day NBA, but also of what we`re trying to do here.”

Bickerstaff felt similarly about the type of players he wanted in Detroit.

“You want guys who are versatile and who can impact the game on both ends of the floor, and you are looking for tough, competitive, fierce dudes that are willing to do whatever it takes and guys who are willing to sacrifice,” he said. “Ausar is all those things. He is what you`re looking for.”

THE THOMPSON TWINS last saw one another in Miami in March, when the Heat hosted the Pistons and Rockets in back-to-back games that resulted in victories for the visiting teams. Armed with versatile two-way skills and explosiveness, the Thompsons significantly impacted the outcome of both contests as primary defenders on Tyler Herro.

Amen displayed the most eye-catching performance. Miami had defeated Houston in a December matchup marred by six ejections, including Thompson, Herro, and Udoka in the final minute. A sore ankle had also kept Amen out of the previous six games before that March matchup.

Defending Herro primarily, Amen recorded seven steals and a block as Houston converted 21 Heat turnovers into 24 points. The Heat guard had performed better two nights earlier against the Pistons. However, both of Ausar`s steals that night came while guarding Herro.

Former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone described film clips of the Thompson brothers from this season as “incredible.”

“You`re really seeing both of those guys this year growing into their own, making a name for themselves,” Malone observed. “Their athleticism, their ability to guard 1 through 5, how strong they are, how fast they are [is impressive].”

Amen might be slightly ahead in his development compared to Ausar, partly because the latter missed the final 19 games of his rookie season and the first 18 games of his 2024-25 campaign due to a blood clot issue. Ausar didn`t make his season debut until November 25.

“You can go back and almost look at the numbers directly,” Bickerstaff noted. “When he came back and was playing minutes, our pace picked up because he`d get rebounds or he runs the floor, pushes and attacks. He`s a really good passer and offensive rebounder. Defensively, he`s just a menace. He`s just all over the floor. He`s grown so much. But I think a lot of it just has to do with him being able to play and getting those games under his belt.”

Udoka sees similar progress in Amen, who joined the Rockets primarily as a point guard. When Alperen Sengun was injured last season, Amen filled in at power forward, improving his skills as a screener and roller. Amen also spent significant time in the dunker spot and moved to point guard for extended periods this season when Fred VanVleet was sidelined with injuries.

“So, he took all of that and added it to his toolbox,” Udoka explained. “He has pretty much played every position, and I think those experiences of different things he hadn`t done before is what`s really propelled him. He was a point guard and only knew one way to play: get out in transition, make passes, get to the basket. Now the fact that he can roll under and play in the dunker and do all those different things has expanded his game.”

From December 23 to the end of the regular season, Amen and Ausar are the only two players in the NBA to log 100 offensive rebounds and 125 combined steals and blocks. While Amen holds a slight advantage over Ausar in per-game production, the numbers are quite similar on a per-36-minutes basis.

This Season Stats

According to GeniusIQ, an AI-powered sports analytics site, Amen and Ausar rank in the top five for average jump height (2.38 feet and 2.28 feet) when attempting a layup or dunk this season. Defensively, Ausar ranks fifth in field goal percentage allowed (38.8%) as the contesting defender among players who have defended 400-plus shots, according to GeniusIQ. Amen ranks sixth but would be first in the league if the minimum threshold for shot contests was raised to 700.

Ausar finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in defensive estimated plus-minus, behind Alex Caruso and Kris Dunn, while Amen ranked fifth, just behind Victor Wembanyama.

“I want to be even more aggressive on-ball, attack more and explore my game while attacking,” Ausar shared. “The main thing is just exploring what I`m already great at, which is getting to the rim, finishing or getting into that mid[-range] area.”

Amen is also one of only two players this season to record 80 steals and 80 blocks, the other being Jaren Jackson Jr. He is the first Rocket since Hakeem Olajuwon (1998-99) to achieve this feat.

Despite the talent and basketball IQ they`ve demonstrated in their first two NBA seasons, the Thompson twins understand they must improve their shooting to truly excel in the league. Until then, they will continue to leverage the physical attributes that brought them to the NBA, with a strong focus on impacting games in any way possible.

“It`s refreshing to see a young player lean into their strengths,” Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy remarked. “The draft process is weird for young players because they get picked apart and told all the things they`re not good at. And sometimes their minds shift to trying to prove everyone wrong. A big part of establishing an identity as a young player in the NBA is step one, don`t tell on yourself, and [step two], lean into the things that you`re good at now to try to impact winning while improving the other parts of your game.”

Before their first-round playoff games, the twins routinely send each other a text message: “Go kill.”

“I just want to see him do well, honestly,” Ausar expressed. “I used to get nervous watching his games. But now I don`t. He plays like 40 minutes a night. So, it`s like I`m just watching it as entertainment now. I expect him to do amazing.”

If one is playing, the other is watching, knowing exactly what their twin is experiencing on the court in that moment. It`s not twin telepathy, but rather deep familiarity.

“If I`m watching, I can tell what he`s feeling just by his face,” Amen explained. “It`s not a [sixth] sense or anything. He would say the same thing. Like, he`ll send a TikTok or we`ll send each other a TikTok at the same time, and it`s the exact same TikTok. So, there`s some stuff like that. But sixth sense? Nah, you`ve just been around the guy your whole life, you know? Our story is basically the exact same story.”