Earlier this month, the Houston Rockets secured Amen Thompson’s future with a five-year, $208 million contract extension. The deal made him one of the first players from the 2023 NBA Draft class to receive a major second contract.
Two weeks later, Amen’s identical twin brother reached a similar milestone.
Ausar Thompson and the Detroit Pistons have agreed to a five-year, $155 million fully guaranteed extension. Both contracts will begin in the 2027-28 season, once the twins complete the final years of their rookie deals.
Combined, the agreements give the Thompson brothers $363 million in new money.
The contracts also cement an NBA first. Amen and Ausar are now the first pair of brothers in NBA history to each sign a contract worth at least $100 million.
Amen Thompson (L) and Ausar Thompson. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
It is the second remarkable piece of NBA history the twins have shared.
Amen and Ausar skipped college to join Overtime Elite, where they eventually won a championship together with the City Reapers. At the 2023 NBA Draft, Houston took Amen with the fourth overall pick. Detroit followed by selecting Ausar at No. 5.
Their back-to-back selections made them the first brothers since the NBA-ABA merger to both go in the top 10 of the same NBA Draft.
The twins’ rookie contracts were already valued at approximately $40 million for Amen and $36 million for Ausar. Including those deals and their new extensions, NBA teams have committed roughly $439 million in total contract value to the Thompson brothers since draft night in 2023.
Unlike many highly drafted players who earn lucrative extensions largely on the strength of their potential, both Thompsons have already made their mark as elite defenders.
Ausar produced a breakout 2025-26 campaign, leading the NBA with 2.0 steals per game. He placed third in Defensive Player of the Year voting and was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. He was the first Pistons player since Ben Wallace, two decades earlier, to receive First Team All-Defense honors.
Amen has expanded his offensive impact while remaining a force on defense. Last season, he posted career highs of 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, and his 2,953 total minutes led the NBA. He also finished eighth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Their teams have undergone an equally striking transformation.
The Rockets won just 42 games combined in the two seasons before selecting Amen. Houston improved to 41-41 during his rookie season, then posted matching 52-30 records in each of the next two campaigns. The Rockets have since reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons, ending a postseason drought that lasted through the first three years of their post-James Harden rebuild.
Ausar joined Detroit in an even more difficult environment.
During his rookie season, the Pistons endured an NBA-record 28-game losing streak and finished 14-68. It was the nadir of a five-season stretch in which Detroit never won more than 23 games.
The Pistons’ recovery has been dramatic. Detroit won 44 games and returned to the playoffs in 2024-25. Last season, the team surged to 60-22, earning the Eastern Conference’s best record. The Pistons advanced to the second round before falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7.
Ausar was not solely responsible for Detroit’s rise, but his defense has become a vital component of one of the NBA’s most promising young teams.
Amen has played a similarly important role in Houston’s resurgence.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of the Thompson twins’ story is how closely their careers have continued to track one another. They were born on the same day, played high school basketball together, skipped college together, played for Overtime Elite together, won a championship together, and were selected with consecutive picks in the NBA Draft.
Three years later, they have now signed nine-figure extensions within two weeks of each other.
Amen’s contract is worth $53 million more than Ausar’s, so family bragging rights technically belong to him for now.
But collectively, the Thompson twins have secured $363 million in new money before their 24th birthdays — while becoming the first brothers in NBA history to each cross the $100 million contract threshold.
Not bad for two guys whose names were called about five minutes apart on draft night.
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