The 2025-26 NBA regular season is still several weeks away. However, the anticipation for the upcoming campaign is at a fever pitch for Houston Rockets fans after the team made a huge move for superstar and future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant.
And then on top of that, they got a couple of nice additions to add to the core, including veteran wing Dorian Finney-Smith. The thought of having the defensive prowess of Finney-Smith and third-year forward Amen Thompson on the floor at the same time is scary.
With the moves the Rockets have made, and their performance last year, many people believe that this team could make a deep playoff run led by a veteran head coach. The Rockets have all the tools to do it, but it can’t all fall on the shoulders of Durant, or even Alperen Sengun, or Fred VanVleet.
In fact, Houston needs Thompson, whom we just mentioned, to take that next step. The young wing was outstanding in his second year during the regular season and in the playoffs.
Amen Thompson Has the Makeup to Be an All-Star Next Season
If Thompson’s offense continues to develop, dare we say that he could be a first-time All-Star next season? It's not without question.
Last season, the former first-round pick’s production went up across the board, as he found a way to impact the game on both ends.
Thompson averaged 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 32.2 minutes per game. He also shot 55.7 percent from the field (10.1 attempts per game, up from 7.2 in 2023-24) and 27.5 percent from beyond the arc.
A majority of Thompson’s attempts last season came at the rim (314) and between 3 to <10 ft (247). And his shooting percentages were 76.4 percent and 45.7 percent, which isn’t bad. But for him to take that next step and become an All-Star, he needs to become a three-level scorer.
This means he has to be a respectable three-point shooter. He took 95 attempts from beyond the arc last season, which was an improvement from his rookie season (58). If you are head coach Ime Udoka, you are happy that he took those attempts.
However, the Rockets might want to see more attempts from Thompson and him being able to knock them down consistently. Last season, his percentage on three-point FGs attempted from the corner was 58.2. Thompson’s actual field goal percentage on those attempts was 37.7, so there’s some hope we can get even better.
When you have a guy like Durant on the floor, things should be more open for guys like Thompson because of the attention Durant brings. If Thompson can get to Finney-Smith’s three-point percentage, which was 39.8%, it should mean more points, too.
We already know that Thompson is one of the better defenders in the league, as he can guard multiple positions. It wasn’t a fluke that he was named first-team All-Defense last season and finished fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
If Thompson keeps his rebounding and assists numbers around the same where they were last season, but improves his three-point shooting and boosts his scoring average close to 20 points per game, that All-Star team bid will be sitting right there for him.