Twins Amen and Ausar Thompson are entering their junior season after having an active summer and fall which saw them both jump into the top-100 in the class of 2022. Originally from Oakland, California and currently in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Thompson twins project to continue to ascend up the national ranks with each bringing their own skill-set to the table.
As part of the Pro Insight Q&A series, we touch on a variety of topics with the Thompsons as we attempt to learn more about two of the most impressive athletes in high school basketball.
For the next installment of the Pro Insight Q&A series, we present 2022 prospects Amen and Ausar Thompson, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida:
Pro Insight: Tell us about your background.
Amen Thompson: We’re originally from Oakland, and in eighth grade we moved to Florida. We have an older brother, he played D1 and our mom and dad didn’t play no sports in college.
PI: Where did your older brother play?
Ausar Thompson: He played at Prairie View A&M in Texas for like two years, then he went to the G-League. Now he’s working out for some G-League teams.
PI: Do you guys train with him?
Both: Oh yeah, we always train with him. We’ve never really had a trainer.
Amen: He always helps us and shows us what we need to do to get to the next level: tells us not to be selfish, that coaches don’t want to see you score, they want to see everything you can do, defense included.
Ausar: Defense included, yes sir.
PI: Is he tall like you guys?
Ausar: We’re the tallest in our family. He was the tallest in our family until like two years ago. He’s like 6’3”.
PI: How tall are your parents?
Amen: My dad is 6’0”, my mom is 5’6”. We got all the genes [laughs], especially that we’re twins is crazy.
PI: Did you guys play any other sports growing up?
Amen: Football. We played flag football until fifth grade, but we were good at flag football. I wanted to be a football player when I was younger, but my mom was like “no we don’t need those concussions” so we just stuck to basketball
Ausar: And the boys and girls soccer team, I wasn’t good, but I played.
PI: Ausar, how would you describe Amen’s game? What are his biggest strengths?
Ausar: Some of his biggest strengths is his ability to finish at the rim. I’ve never seen a dude who could finish at the rim like him...not just dunks, but some of the layups he makes are insane. His defense. His mid-range is there and his 3pt shot is getting there so don’t sleep on the 3.
PI: Amen, how would you describe Ausar’s strengths?
Amen: Super good passer, good facilitator, very good defender, good three-point shooter. All-around scorer. Good finisher, just not up there with me yet. He’s got some bounce, just not up there with me yet. Overall, he’s just not up there with me yet.
Ausar: We see the difference of humbleness between the both of us [laughs].
PI: What are some things you’re each trying to improve?
Amen: Definitely my jump shot so I can be a better scorer in the half-court because some dudes on the drive, I can still get there, but if I had a jump shot it’d make it a lot easier for me to drive.
Ausar: I also work on my jump shot even though I hit it I want it to be more consistent. I need to work on shooting more, I like getting my teammates involved, but sometimes I don’t make the best pass because I didn’t shoot the best shot. Shoot the open shot.
PI: What are some underrated aspects of your games?
Ausar: My shooting, again. I see all these other people say I can’t shoot and it’s not true.
Amen: I feel like an underrated part of both our games is our handles because dudes think that we’re like 6’6” that we can’t dribble, but in reality that’s not true and I feel like that’s a really underrated aspect of my game.
PI: Who are the top-five guards in the 2022 class? Where do you rank yourselves?
Amen: Me, Ausar, Skyy Clark, Scoota Henderson, and maybe Dior [Johnson] I’d say.
PI: What’s the current update with your recruitment?
Ausar: Right now we don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re going to wait a little and see our best options. No need to rush anything. We haven’t even gone on any visits yet, we’ve been doing online visits. COVID is really slowing things down, but we’re trying to weigh our options and see what’s going on.
PI: Who has offered and shown interest?
Amen: Our offers are Kansas, Arizona, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Iowa State, Alabama, and USF. Interests are Kentucky, talked to Baylor, Davidson...a lot of schools I can’t list them all.
PI: Any schools showing the most interest?
Ausar: I think Florida State, Arizona, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Kansas. All the schools that have offered us have shown a lot of interest.
PI: What position would you say you guys are?
Amen: point guard or shooting guard. I can play the small forward. Either a guard or a wing. On defense I feel like I can guard any position
Ausar: Combo guard, more of a point. I feel I can guard anybody, as well.
Ausar: One thing I don’t think people do any more...all the highlight reels are just offense and people don’t really think about defense. We really like to play defense a lot and try to turn defense into offense.
PI: Who do you guys model your games after?
Ausar: I don’t know, I can tell you people I like to watch. I like to watch Damian Lillard, Luka Doncic, Paul George….my favorite player is LeBron James, but those are my three favorite players to watch in my free time if I want to learn something.
Amen: Even though I’m not nearly as fast, I love De'Aaron Fox and John Wall...a lot of the Kentucky guards. Damian Lillard. LeBron James is also my favorite player.
PI: Who do people compare you guys to?
Ausar: Some people compare me to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but I feel like he moves a little more smooth/slower than me. Just the big guards.
Amen: The only comparison I’ve gotten is like Paul George [laughs]. I don’t how or why, but hey I like Paul George so I’m cool with it.
PI: You two are obviously close...can you talk a little bit about the synergy between you guys?
Amen: We’ve been playing basketball together since third grade so we know a lot of stuff. I can just tell him to back door by a single look, he can do the same for me. Sometimes I’ll dribble in and he’ll do cuts that nobody else knows how to do and I’ll feed him when nobody else will. We’ve got a lot of good synergy and it really helps on the court.
Ausar: I totally agree with everything he just said, we’ve got that connection.
PI: What are your biggest interests outside of basketball?
Ausar: Video games, I don’t know [laughs]. I really like basketball. If I could do basketball and not destroy my whole body, I would probably do it most of the day if we’re being honest. Work on my game.
Amen: We really like basketball, but I’d have to say like hang with friends, I don’t even know.
PI: Any specific interests?
Ausar: I’m the most generic dude ever, I come out with t-shirts and basketball shorts on every single day. No jeans, just ready to ball, exercise or whatever.
Amen: I like listening to music. I don’t like the new rappers, I like the old rappers. J. Cole is the best rapper, ever. My hot take: Uzi Is trash [laughs].
PI: How would you rank yourselves on 2K?
Ausar: I’m going to humble myself and still give myself a 99 [laughs]. Just because if I made myself in 2K I would have to boost up every attribute. I’ll humble myself with a 99, I would give myself 100, but that would be breaking the game.
Amen: Honestly I’d give myself an 85, but my potential is up to a 99. I can get there. Like, I got A+ potential on 2K.
Ausar: 99 don’t need potential [laughs].
PI: If you had four words to describe your brother, what would those four words be?
Amen: Cool. Bi-polar. Funny. Creative.
Ausar: Funny. Laid-back. He’s not as aggressive as I am. Um, dang bro you’re boring [laughs]. Funny. Laid-back. Creative. You know sometimes if you push his buttons like I do sometimes, I’ve gotten a lot of energy, but he gets aggressive then and wants to hit me [laughs].