by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman

June 25, 2023

Thompson Twins Become Highest-Picked Brothers in NBA Draft History

The Thompson twins are not only making their hoop dreams come true, but making NBA Draft history.

Amen and Ausar Thompson, 6’7″ brothers from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were the No. 4 and No. 5 draft picks for the 2023 NBA Draft, respectively.

Amen, a point guard, was picked up by the Houston Rockets. His brother will be starting his NBA career as a power forward with the Detroit Pistons.

The Athletic confirmed that while the two are not the first set of twins to be drafted together, they are the highest ranking and within the top 10, beating Marcus and Markieff Morris who were the No. 13 and No.14 picks in the 2011 draft.

The arrangement makes sense, as The Athletic’s Fred Katz explained: “The Morris twins are identical in every way. They have the same tattoos and middle name. They used to twin swap in high school so that the one who was better at humanities took the history tests and the one who was better at math took the algebra ones. No one could tell the difference. Them going consecutively was as if the twin gods had it planned all along.”

The twins are highly anticipated to be major game-changers with their franchises.

Their path to professional basketball is a relatively recent one, as the brothers chose to forego the collegiate route usually taken by aspiring NBA players, which is attending a top Division 1 school and playing for their programs.

Instead, they chose to skip school and play for the newly established Overtime Elite, a professional league based in Atlanta for 16- to 20-year -olds with the hopes of performing well enough to advance to the NBA.

The Thompsons exceeded expectations during their two-year contract with Overtime Elite. They banded together in their final season with the City Reapers team to win the championship. While the brothers were forces to be reckoned with, Ausar was named regular season MVP and Finals MVP for both of his seasons with Overtime Elitee.

The Thompson twins have never been separated prior to their NBA induction, but will now have to face off against each other.

 


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