Amen & Ausar Thompson: Should the San Antonio Spurs roll the dice?

The San Antonio Spurs have finally made it to the halfway point of the NBA season having won 13 of their 42 games. This evening, the team will be facing the Golden State Warriors for the second time this season in what will undoubtedly be an unforgettable game back in the Alamodome.

While fans will likely be soaking in the momentous occasion regardless of the outcome, it should go without saying that the Spurs have hit many hurdles this season. Keldon Johnson had his worst stretch of games since earning a starting spot, having only shot 32% from three and recording a team-worst +/- of -13.4 in the month of November. And just as he's begun to turn the corner again, news broke that Devin Vassell would be undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

The Spurs currently sit in 14th place in the Western Conference and have the 4th worst record in the league, meaning the team may have a good shot at one of the 2023 NBA Draft's top prizes: Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson. For those paying attention, however, even if the Spurs were to end the season with the worst record in the league, they would only have a 27.4% chance at one of the top two picks. So, while we'd love to focus our analytical efforts solely on Wembanyama and Henderson, the reality is that we need to be paying attention to many, many more names in the draft.

We've neglected to go in-depth on some of the draft's top names up to this point purely because of how early it still is in the draft cycle and because of how quickly things can change. But that ends today, as we'll be doing a deep dive into two of the draft's most hyped names: Amen Thompson and his identical twin brother Ausar Thompson, both of whom are currently playing with the Overtime Elite's City Reapers.

Here, we're going to go over why both brothers have been frequently labeled as top-five-level prospects, their strengths and areas for improvement, and whether or not either brother would be a good fit with the Spurs.