The Houston Rockets have their man. With the fourth pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, the team selected guard Amen Thompson from Overtime Elite.
At 6-7, Thompson has great size for a guard and the 20-year old showed the ability to step up when it matters most, averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds in the playoffs to lead the City Reapers to the Overtime Elite championship last season. The Rockets, after adding Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. in the last two drafts, are positioned to get another good one.
It was a good night for the Thompson family. Right after Amen Thompson was picked by the Rockets, his twin brother, Ausar Thompson, was selected by the Detroit Pistons.
Both Thompson brothers played for Overtime Elite, which, according to Sporting News, is a league that recruits high school players in their juniors and senior years or people out of school up to 20 years old. On its website, the league says it offers youths an alternate path to the NBA.
At No. 20, the Rockets ended the slide for Cam Whitmore, the 18-year-old forward who dealt with a thumb injury in his only season at Villanova.
Add last year's No. 3 overall pick Jabari Smith Jr. and Turkey's Alperen Sengun, who was 18 when he was the 16th choice in 2021, and the Rockets have a bevy of players 21 or younger as they try to escape the abyss of a three-season stretch in which they averaged 59 losses.
