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The Houston Rockets recently signed forward Amen Thompson to a five-year rookie scale extension worth $208 million, locking him up until the 2032 season. By committing that amount of money on the 23-year-old, the Rockets are saying that they are putting all their marbles on the No.4 overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft.
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Entering his fourth season armed with a massive contract and coming off his best year in the NBA, many expect Thompson to take that leap to superstardom. ESPN’s Tim McMahon thinks he’s already there, comparing him to the early version of Ben Simmons.
“I think Amen Thompson, like the best version of him, is a young superstar version of Ben Simmons,”
“The best version of him, offensively. That’s the best comp for him. I think that’s the kind of player Amen Thompson can be.”
The younger version of Simmons was a superstar
McMahon made his point crystal clear because Simmons is now 30 and will return to the NBA after not playing last season. He recently signed a one-year deal with the Sacramento Kings, but with no guarantee that he will be the same player he was early in his career.
That younger version of Simmons, though, was spectacular. Ben was a defensive menace who could guard positions one through four and was an excellent playmaker and decision-maker on the other end.
However, the one drawback for superstar Ben was the lack of a reliable outside shot and poor free-throw shooting. McMahon clarified that he isn’t saying Thompson can’t average in his 20s like Simmons, but overall, he gives him the same look and feel on the court.
“Scoring’s higher now than it was back then, but Amen Thompson averaged 18.3 points last year at age 23. But my point is a big hyper-athletic dynamic attacking playmaker who’s just a menace defensively but does not have a jumpshot. And you need to surround those players with shooting. I think to maximize Ben Simmons back in the day, to maximize Amen Thompson now, you’ve got to surround them with shooting,” he added.
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Embiid said Simmons’ game did not improve over time
The Sixers surrounded Simmons with shooters, including JJ Redick, Seth Curry, and Danny Green, among others, during his tenure in Philly. However, the issue with Ben was that he never developed an outside shot.
In four years with the Sixers, the Aussie took only 34 3-pointers in 275 games and made just 5, for 13.9 percent. He was also just a 59.7 percent free-throw shooter in Philly.
Meanwhile, despite not having the accuracy yet, Thompson’s 3-point attempts per season have climbed every year, from 58 to 91 and then 116 last season, so he’s willing to take the shot. It’s just a matter of working on it. Amen also averaged a career-high 77.9 percent from the foul line last campaign after shooting below 70 percent in his first two years, so definitely, there is an improvement.
As far as surrounding him with shooters, the Rockets have a pair of snipers that will help fix that. Houston’s lead star is still Kevin Durant, and they will also have starting point guard Fred VanVleet back from injury. Reed Sheppard, Tari Eason, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Marcus Smart also figure to help Amen have more real estate to work with.
So yes, while it seems like a fair comparison, Thompson looks like he’ll take his career further than Simmons because he’s willing to shoot and he’s got good shooters around him, too.
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This story was originally published September 9, 2026 at 12:05 AM.