Amen Thompson was born one minute before his twin brother Ausar.
And on Thursday night, Amen was drafted one pick before Ausar.
Twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson, both of whom are 20-year-old guards from Overtime Elite, were picked back-to-back in the 2023 NBA Draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. They were the first two players selected after the consensus top three prospects -- Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson -- had been drafted.
Amen heard his name called first by the Houston Rockets at the fourth overall selection.
Minutes later, the Detroit Pistons went with Ausar at the fifth pick.
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Amen and Ausar became the first set of brothers to ever be drafted inside of the 10 of the same NBA draft. They are not the first brothers to be picked back-to-back, though, as twins Markieff and Marcus Morris were drafted 13th and 14th, respectively, in 2011.
The Thompson twins are San Leandro, California, natives but attended high school at Pine Crest in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They opted not to go the traditional college route and instead skipped their senior year of high school to play two seasons with Overtime Elite, which is a professional basketball league based in Atlanta for young basketball prospects.
The brothers were part of Overtime Elite's first two seasons after the league was founded in 2021, and they are the first two Overtime Elite players to get drafted.
After playing on different teams during their first year, Amen and Ausar joined forces and won an Overtime Elite championship together in 2022-23.
Amen, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 209 pounds, averaged 16.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists over 15 games last season while shooting 56.6% from the field, 25% from 3 and 65.6% from the free throw line. He earned First Team All-OTE honors in the process.
Ausar, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 215 pounds, averaged 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists over 15 games last season while shooting 48.1% from the field, 29.8% from 3 and 66.2% from the free throw line. He won a championship and earned Finals MVP in each of his two seasons while picking up the regular-season MVP award in 2022-23 as well.
