Inside The Rockets

Rockets' Amen Thompson Showed Enough at Summer League

Amen Thompson dazzled in his Houston Rockets debut at Las Vegas Summer League.

Jeremy Brener

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It was brief, but it appears that Houston Rockets rookie Amen Thompson's Summer League is over.

Thompson suffered a left ankle injury in Friday night's 100-99 win against the Portland Trail Blazers and exited the game early in the fourth quarter.

According to The Athletic's Kelly Iko, the Rockets are "very likely" to keep Thompson out for the remainder of Summer League. Thompson will have an MRI on his ankle on Saturday.

"I'm just focused on the regular season, to be honest," Thompson said. "If I cannot play, then it is on to the next. I am going to have a lot of opportunities to play."

Even if this is the last the Rockets have seen from Thompson in Las Vegas, they should be happy with what he showed.

He made an impact on both ends of the floor, scoring nine of his 16 points in the first quarter. On defense, he took advantage of his opportunities and came up with four blocks, four rebounds and three steals.

Simply put, Thompson looked the part of a top-five pick. His unique size and skillset as a 6-7 point guard made him a very intriguing prospect out of Overtime Elite, a new league with very little connection to the NBA.

Defensively, Thompson had opportunities to guard No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson and centers, two totally different archetypes to defend. However, he showed poise when defending both guards and bigs.

His ability to drive and make tough shots in the lane is also a welcomed addition to the Rockets offense. Eric Gordon had that ability, but with him long gone, Thompson gets a chance to replenish that aspect for Houston.

On top of that, Thompson's court vision gives the Rockets a true point guard and facilitator, something the team has lacked since trading away James Harden.

Did Thompson have these abilities before Summer League? Yes, but it's nice to see that it is translating in an NBA game. Sure, Summer League is different than the regular season when games begin to count, but Thompson doesn't have much to prove after his Rockets debut.

The vision will only become more real when he puts on the threads again in three months' time.

You can follow Jeremy Brener on Twitter @JeremyBrener.

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Jeremy Brener
JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager who has been with On SI since 2021. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20.

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