With the fourth pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the Houston Rockets selected Amen Thompson, and with the fifth pick, the Detroit Pistons grabbed his twin brother, Overtime Elite’s Ausar Thompson.
The Thompson Twins become the first brothers to be drafted in the Top-5 in the same draft in NBA history.
Ironically, Amen Thompson is one minute older than the 20-year-old Ausar Thompson, and in terms of the NBA, Amen’s selection was around five minutes before Ausar.
“I think it’s kind of cool going first,” Amen Thompson said after the selection. “It means a lot to my family. Me and Ausar, we were going to be happy whoever went first. But it means a lot to my family seeing all the hard work pay off. Us go back to back, be the first twins in the same draft to go top five; it means a lot.”
In 2022-23, Ausar Thompson 6-7, 215, averaged 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks in 29.1 minutes across 20 games for the City Reapers of Overtime Elite. He was named Overtime Elite MVP and later named Finals MVP after averaging 21.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in the playoffs.
Amen and Ausar have mostly played together, and now, they will have to adjust, but Ausar believes they will be fine.
“I feel like we’re going to adapt,” he said. “It may be a little hard, but I think he’s going to be fine. I know I’m going to be fine. I’ll FaceTime him.”
The Detroit Pistons have a lot of young talent, including Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, and Jalen Duren. According to Thompson, Detroit is the perfect place for him.
“I liked what they were talking about,” he said. “I liked the direction they wanted to go in as a team, and I just felt like that was a perfect place for me.”
Thompson is the fourth top-five selection for the Pistons since 1995 (Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, and Darko Milicic) and the third in the last three seasons.
In addition, Detroit agreed in principle to acquire the draft rights to No. 25 overall pick, Marcus Sasser, as part of a larger trade that is not yet final.
Sasser, 6-2, 195, averaged 16.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals in 30.8 minutes across 36 games in his senior season at Houston. After leading the Cougars to a 33-4 record and a No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Sasser was a consensus 2022-23 All-American First Team selection. Sasser won the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award in 2022-23. In addition, he was a Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year finalist and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist.
He hails from a basketball family as his uncles Jeryl (No. 22 overall to Orlando in 2001) and Jason Sasser (No. 41 overall to Sacramento in 1996) were both drafted into the NBA.
Leave a Reply