SAN FRANCISCO – When Ausar Thompson landed in the Bay Area for the NBA’s All-Star weekend, the Detroit Pistons wing and San Leandro native made a quick stop at a California landmark.
The NBA Rising Stars player pulled into a nearby In-N-Out, hankering for a delicacy that cannot be attained in his new home in Michigan.
His go-to order?
“Double-double with cheese and lettuce, no onions and no tomatoes,” Thompson said with zero hesitation.
His twin brother Amen – a fellow 2023 first-round draft pick and participant in the weekend’s festivities – landed early on Friday morning after playing against his hometown Warriors in Houston on Thursday.
Even though they moved to Florida in middle school to pursue their hoop dreams, the pair still cherish their ties to the Bay Area.
“I was really trying to make it to this event this year, just because it’s in the Bay and across the bridge (from where I grew up),” said Amen, a 22-year-old point guard for the Rockets.
They’ll be coached by Warriors icon Mitch Richmond on “Team M” in Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge at Chase Center, which features first- and second-year players.
Amen is considered a future All-Star, Ausar has oodles of untapped potential as a versatile wing scorer, and both can claim to be the most athletic player in the league.
Before their meteoric rise to the NBA, the Thompsons were just kids at John Muir Middle School in San Leandro.
During the summertime, they played for the Vision AAU team in tournaments they still vividly remember.
“Some of the best days of my life. I feel like that was a family,” Amen recalled.
“Just traveling every weekend, whether it was in the Bay or in Sac, just every weekend we were playing a bunch of games,” Ausar remembered. “Shoutout to Vision.“
Even at a young age, it was clear that the Thompsons were in a class of their own as players in the region, and moved to Florida to play better competition.
“My son Trey played against them a few times. They were really good back then, but they went away and became really, really good players,” Moreau Catholic boys basketball coach Frank Knight told the Bay Area News Group.
But even though the Thompsons moved cross-country, playing for Overtime Elite before being drafted, they never forgot their Bay Area roots.
Years later, they still rep the region and what they believe is its underappreciated basketball talent.
“I feel like there’s a lot of great players I’ve met, even players in the league right now that I played growing up in the Bay like Jaylen Wells,” Ausaur said, referring to the rookie who prepped at Folsom High. “It’s a big basketball scene, and I feel like they need more exposure.”
Knight, who also runs the Knight Basketball Academy AAU team, agreed with Ausar, and had no difficulty running through a long list of hoops luminaries that have come through the Bay Area.
“We have always had talent,” Knight said. “Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Antonio McDyess, Aaron Gordon, Dame Lillard, Leon Powe, the twins and many more people who had cups of tea in the league.”
At the rate Amen Thompson is improving, it wouldn’t be a shock if he joins that list before long.
The 6-foot-6 point guard with rocket boosters for legs and all-league caliber defense has been one of the NBA’s breakout stars this season, averaging 13.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while providing jaw-dropping highlights nightly.
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Amen scored a career-high 33 points and made a game-winning jumpshot late last month in Boston against the defending champion Celtics, then had a triple-double against Phoenix on Wednesday.
If the Thompsons and Team M win both of their games on Friday night, they will take on the actual NBA All-Stars on Sunday evening thanks to the game’s new tournament-style format.
“I think it’s kind of cool, and I think it’s going to bring some competitiveness to the All-Star Game,” Amen said. “And hopefully we win so we can do that.”
Ausar’s NBA journey has been slightly bumpier, dealing with injury and playing more off-ball with a number of shot-happy wings in front of him in the pecking order. But he’s starting to heat up, scoring in double figures in each of his last seven games.
With family and friends expected to be in San Francisco to watch the brothers play together for the first time since high school, the Rising Stars could introduce the national audience to their talent.
The Bay Area has known about their ability for quite some time.
“I’ve got the whole fam out here,” Ausar said. “To be here with my brother where it all started, on the same team, it’s a crazy experience.”
