He picked your pocket and eat your lunch.
Jul 1, 2025
Amen Thompson.
2025 NBA All-Defensive First Team.
2024 All-Rookie Second Team.
Per Basketball Reference, Amen is the only player to finish top 20 in both blocks (1.3) and steals (1.4) per game and one of only SIX players to average 1+ in both stock categories; the others are Victor Wembanyama (who only played 46 games), a pair of former Defensive Player of the Year Winners in Draymond Green and Jaren Jackson Jr, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Scottie Barnes.
Watching Amen absolutely terrorize offensive players reminds me a little of young Kawhi in the sense that if you’re trying to go at him 1 on 1 at the top of the key, things really might not go your way. Thompson is listed as 6 feet 7 inches but his wingspan is 7 feet. Pair that length with his elite athleticism and tremendous defensive feel and you have the makings of a future frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year. Amen and Ime Udoka are a match made in heaven because the way the Rockets head coach deploy his defenders means that they are up and into your body, hyper physical, and relentless in their pursuit of the basketball. Sometimes Amen is the head of the snake, sometimes he cleans up mistakes as the back line guy but whatever he is tasked to do, Amen is fearless and frenetic and very few offensive players come out unscathed.