Rockets lock up Amen Thompson with a reported 5-year, $208M extension through 2032

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Rockets signed Amen Thompson to a contract extension, the team announced Thursday.

The Rockets didn’t release terms of the deal, but multiple reports said it was a five-year, $208 million extension that would keep him in Houston until 2032.

“Amen represents everything we want our organization to be about,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said. “He has elite two-way ability, a toughness and the will to outwork his peers, and he competes in every circumstance. Year over year, he’s improved in every facet of his game, and we know his best basketball is ahead of him.”

Thompson, the fourth pick in the 2023 draft, started 79 games last season and averaged 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.51 steals a game. He joined Luka Doncic as the only players in league history to average at least 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and 1.5 steals a game.

He led the league in minutes played last season to become the third Rocket to do so, joining James Harden and Moses Malone, who both did it twice.

The 23-year-old, who has developed into the team’s top defender, showed his versatility to play any guard position last season when he stepped in as the team’s point guard with Fred VanVleet missing all season because of a knee injury.

Thompson has improved steadily in his three seasons in Houston after averaging 9.5 points as a rookie and scoring 14.1 points a game in Year 2.

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