Amen and Ausar Thompson, twin brothers, made history Thursday night when they were selected back-to-back in the 2023 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Houston Rockets selected Amen with the fourth overall choice, while the Detroit Pistons selected Ausar with the fifth overall pick.
Amen and Ausar, who are both 20-year-old guards from Overtime Elite, became the first set of brothers to be drafted within the top 10 in the same draft. “Me and Ausar, we were going to be happy whoever went first,” Amen Thompson told reporters. “But it means a lot to my family seeing all the hard work pay off. Us going back to back, being the first twins in the same draft to go Top 5, it means a lot.”
The Thompson brothers are not the first brothers to be drafted back-to-back; in 2011, twins Markieff and Marcus Morris were selected 13th and 14th, respectively. This is the second time in the last 12 years that a pair of twins has gone back to back in the NBA Draft.
The Thompson twins, who grew up in San Leandro, California, went to Pine Crest High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 6-foot-7 identical twins chose Overtime Elite, an Atlanta-based professional basketball league for teenagers, over a Power Five basketball program. The twins played in the first two seasons of Overtime Elite and are the first two Overtime Elite players to be drafted.
