Amen Thompson’s in-and-out ankle breaker is NBA’s nastiest crossover this season

Amen Thompson put this Knicks defender on skates and then dunked on his head.

The Houston Rockets are the most surprising team in the Western Conference this season, and Amen Thompson is their breakout player. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft is taking a huge leap midway through his second season to become a game-breaking defender and improved scorer for the Rockets. Thompson put on another show against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Monday night, and it included one of the nastiest crossovers you will see this season.

The Knicks outlasted the Rockets, 124-118, behind Jalen Brunson’s 42 points. Thompson led the way for Houston with a 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, and continued his star ascent under the bright lights of MSG despite the loss.

Thompson attacked the Knicks off the dribble at the end of the third quarter, and sent poor Precious Achiuwa flying with a ridiculous full-speed in-and-out dribble before dunking on his head. Thompson is the best athlete in the NBA — just as we predicted in our pre-draft feature on him and his twin brother Ausar! — and he keeps proving it every night.

Watch the play here:

A move that awesome deserves a couple more angles. This one is fun:

And one more:

Thompson doesn’t have anything close to a reliable jump shot, but it doesn’t matter because he’s the most explosive athlete in the league. As the Rockets consider going star-hunting at the trade deadline or in the summer, they need to remember Thompson could be the leading man they’ve been looking for all along.