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Outside of the three games where they've matched up against each other on the hardwood, today is the first time that Amen and Ausar Thompson have been in the same space rocking their respective NBA threads. Amen in the Rockets' red. Ausar in the Pistons' blue. So it's only right that the moment occurs in the same gym that they first stepped into as 6-4 eighth graders. Except this time, they're returning to shoot their first-ever SLAM cover.
It's a characteristically sunny day in Fort Lauderdale, FL, during Father's Day weekend and the Thompson twins are back at Pine Crest School, where they transferred in 2018 to get a head start on varsity. Aside from the recolored court and updated half-court logo, everything inside the gym has remained the same, from the pine green bleachers to the matching wall padding.
Amen and Ausar may have left the sprawling southern Florida campus after their junior year, but the gym has remained a second home. And once they stepped through the doors, that brotherly banter was in full effect.
“We come back, like, every summer [and] during the All-Star break, and we just work out here when we're not in Detroit or [with] our respective teams,” Ausar says. “Fort Lauderdale, it's where part of the journey started, you know, the new chapter of our lives.”
The true beginning for two of the League's most electrifying young stars was out in Oakland, CA, where the twins were born and raised. The origins of their famous vision boards, which were widely documented on Draft night in 2023, started here. And San Leandro's Bancroft Middle School, along with numerous other asphalt surfaces, served as the battleground for endless one-on-ones.
“It's the only time in his life he's beat me for real,” Amen says.
“That's not true,” Ausar interjects. “But then we couldn't leave until he [Amen] won. But also, we couldn't go home if I was, like, trying to let him win. And I'd be sneaky. Sometimes I wouldn't be trying to let him win, but he would win. And he just expected me to win so much because I was so much better than him that we just couldn't go home.”
The games would get physical. And when the losses mounted, shoulders and bows became more frequent. Eventually, their dad, Troy, had to step in and cease all one-on-one activity. “He used to win most of the games, but then it kind of evened out over the years,” Ausar says.
From the moment they picked up the rock, the twins grew accustomed to getting it out the mud together. But for the past two years, they've been building out their bags in separate cities for separate teams. The first twins in NBA history to be drafted in the top five are now fresh off their first playoff appearances. Yet as soon as their old head coach at Pine Crest, Coach Ike, opens up the gym, it's right back to those ones.
“It's definitely weird for the first day, and we play one-on-one, and I just start killing him,” Amen says. “So it's like back to the old days, you know what I mean?”
“That's so cap. He can't beat me. He won't even play me one-on-one because he says he's scared,” Ausar says.
“That's not true,” Amen fires back.
“He's scared,” Ausar doubles down. “He's scared it will get too physical.”
“Nah, never. Never that,” Amen replies.
Amen and Ausar aren't just identical twins. To the untrained eye, their games look like a mirror, too. Both are 6-7, even though Ausar swears that he's bigger physically than his brother. Both have left the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Jalen Brunson straight up baffled at their fluidity and otherworldly athleticism. They both receive the top defensive assignment every night. And they've left the broadcast teams in their respective markets utterly speechless over and over.
In his second season with the Rockets, Amen posted 14.1 points, 8.2 boards, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks a game while Ausar put up 10.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.3 dimes and 1.7 swipes a night with the Pistons. The stat sheet and the tape tell different stories, but both brothers have started to take advantage of those perceived “similarities,” knowing that teams have been scouting and game planning for them in similar ways.
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“It's super cool because we take things that we learn from our teams and we give them to each other,” Ausar says. “So whatever he learned, he'll come and be like, this is what my guys tell me for a certain thing. And I'll tell him the exact same thing.”
What are those things the twins are sharing that border on insider trading? “Can't give 'em too much, twin,” Amen says, while Ausar methodically ponders a PC answer like Tom Holland doing press for the MCU. No leaks here.
“I can't give you too much, I'm sorry,” Amen finally responds. But what can they share? “He teaches me how he wears his jersey and the art of the short shorts,” Ausar says with a laugh. “But this year I don't think I'm wearing short shorts. That's the most that I can say.”
“I always had this little sweatband on my wrist and that's all I needed,” Ausar continues. “But I've been experimenting. I wore something totally different this year than last year. Next year, I think I'm going to do the same. Amen just tells me that my on-court drip is terrible all the time. He's like, Bro, you've got to take the undershirt off. Or, You've got to take the two leg sleeves off.”
“Just one leg sleeve, bro,” Amen says, reaffirming what he's been preaching to his brother for the past year.
“But then we'd be looking the same and I don't want that,” Ausar says.
“I used to do the undershirt, too, until I had to start tucking my jersey in and then I felt like I looked like Urkel,” Amen says. “So then I switched it up after that, I'm not going to lie.”
In 2025, 22-year-old twins are giving everyone around the game a fresh and unseen perspective on the League. From hearing how their benches talk trash to debating if rocking the double leg sleeve adheres to the ever-changing unwritten style code held by players, we're getting nuggets of knowledge like never before.
Every game against the other features the opposing bench yelling out, “You're not the real AT!” And the words thrown around get real spicy. “My favorite part for sure is in the game. I feel like with him, I could talk trash differently. Like really talk trash, you know, because I mean, it's not that personal. It's just joking,” Amen says.
Around the 2024 trade deadline, the two were hitting each other back and forth about their teams' last-minute decisions as they were being reported. At one point, Amen was informing Ausar of his new teammates in Detroit just by scrolling through social media. “It would just pop up on my phone. I would call him. He'd be like, No way. That was one of the funniest days,” Amen reminisces.
And every trip into the other's city features a link-up. Whether that's grabbing a bite to eat the night before or pulling up to the crib to chill. If they're in Houston, Amen's gotta pick the restaurant. If it's Detroit, it's all on Ausar.
Most recently, before a game against the Rockets, Amen put Ausar on to JOEY Uptown at The Galleria, which Ausar reports “was a nice vibe. I liked it there. I don't know where I took him in Detroit, cause Detroit's got some nice restaurants, too.” But Amen confirms the joint was just as nice. The crib is a different conversation, though.
It wasn't until the Rockets pulled up to Detroit on New Year's Day in 2024 that the brothers took full advantage of being in the same city. Ausar might have refused to stay the night before the game, but the night after worked.
“It was kind of weak, I'm not gonna lie,” Ausar says of his brother's spot in Houston. Amen calls him a hater. “Compared to mine, it was just like, You could do better, you know? Nah, I'm joking. It was nice.”
When Amen and Ausar are in the same city, the competitive gauge is turned to 10. But that also means that when they're apart, they're riding for each other just as much. On and off the court. That connectivity across state lines has been fueled by a two-word text that gets sent out 40 minutes before tip: “Go Kill.”
“It's probably like a 71-game occurrence,” Ausar says. “One, because sometimes I truly will forget he has a game. It just doesn't count if you send it during the game. Like, if he's playing on the West Coast, I'll think the game's at, like, seven o'clock, and it's really at like nine. Or he'll go from the West Coast to the East Coast, and I'll think his game was later, and it's really earlier, so then I won't be able to send it in time. But I do text him that before every game. I try at least.”
The twins interpret the phrase similarly. To be as aggressive as possible on both ends of the court. To play every game like it's possibly your last. To give it your all. To dominate in any way, even if that means there are only 9 points next to your name in the box score. “Let your presence be known out there,” Amen says.
The daily practice of writing out their affirmations is still as present as it was when they were 9 years old, writing out those vision boards. The habit isn't exclusive to their pre-game rituals either. Ausar got a new poster board to write out what he wants to attack each day. And Amen got back into journaling when the Rockets entered the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs this past season, inspired by his grandmother gifting him a framed version of his vision board for his Houston home.
“Any time I was in a hotel, you've got the pieces of paper and a pen, and I kept writing I will be great before the games. So that's my new thing,” Amen says. “But I want to make a whole new dream board, because I did it when I was 9 years old. Now I'm 22, so just doing that I feel like will get my mind set on the things I really want to accomplish.”
So what's on the Thompson twins' revised vision boards after spending the past two seasons putting the L on notice? “Championships,” they both say in unison.
“But you're not on the Rockets, though,” Amen says. “So how're you gonna win?”
“What franchise has more championships?” Ausar asks.
“I think we've got the same amount. Oh no, you've got more,” Amen realizes. In that moment, Ausar turns around to the back collar of his jersey, pointing out the number “3” emblazoned within a small Larry O'Brien patch, denoting the Pistons' three NBA championships. “Does my thing not say three on the back?” Ausar rhetorically asks.
“What does mine say?” Amen asks.
“Two,” Ausar says, his chest puffed out.
“Oh, it's finna be like 10,” Amen says.
“Ten is crazy. Ten is crazy,” Ausar says, as both twins laugh. “But, nah, championships, and a lot of other things that will not be said. But they will happen.”
“Oooh. Come on,” Amen says. “That was kind of tough,”
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