Amen Thompson Has Rockets Fans Thrilled About Young Core After 2023 NBA Draft

The youth movement in Houston continues and the future looks bright as ever for the Rockets.

The franchise may have found themselves their point guard of the future in Amen Thompson, who they drafted No. 4 overall in Thursday night's NBA Draft.

Opting to head to the Overtime Elite professional league over the last two years instead of going the collegiate route, there may not be a whole lot of people familiar with Thompson's game.

But he's among the elite guard prospects in the entire draft and one of the most athletic players at the position to enter the league in some time. And now, he'll join a backcourt that already includes former No. 2 pick Jalen Green, who's an absolute freak in his own right.

Thompson, 20, was an All-OTE First-Team selection and league champ in 2023 as he averaged 16.3 points per game to go along with 6.2 assists, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 steals.

With Thompson, Green, Jabari Smith and Alperen Şengün, the Rockets have one of the more fascinating younger squads in the entire league that should have newly-hired coach Ime Udoka excited to oversee their development over the next few seasons.

And Thompson may just be the right engine that makes the whole car run in Houston.

And Rockets' fans took to Twitter to share their excitement over their new point guard.

Incredibly, Thompson's twin better Ausar was taken with the very next pick to the Detroit Pistons, making it a huge night of celebrations for their entire family.

Thompson will of course play a key role in the Rockets' rebuild over the next few years as they finished tied for the second-worst record in the league at 22-60. But this youth movement—combined with Udoka's coaching pedigree—may have them back in contention sooner than many would have expected.