Amen is really a very, very special athlete. Maybe even MJ-like. Idk if his leaping is quite as functionally great. but he's up there.
Complex had an interesting list come out this year ranking the top 25 players under 25, and the description of Thompson and his athletic ability was really accurate:
There’s a world where Thompson sits near the very top of this list. In that one, potentially a few years down the line, he’s developed a consistent jumper while leveraging his rim pressure to generate more open looks for his teammates, plays elite multi-positional defense, and averages 25/5/5. In the current one, he stands as a tantalizing prospect who’s already become a key contributor to the No. 3 seed Houston Rockets.
While he’s largely come off the bench, he’s quickly established himself as an impactful two-way force. Unlike most elite run/jump athletes with his size, he blends twitchy burst and vertical lift with hyper-refined movement skills; think Ja Morant or Dwyane Wade. He can slither as easily as he can explode. It’s an omni-directionality that’s made him an opposing team’s most frustrating quandary; he can beat you to the spot, but you can’t stop him from getting to his.
This isn’t just conjecture. Opponents are shooting just 21% and scoring just .55 points per possession against Amen in ISO situations. That’s good for 92nd percentile in the league. Once he’s at the rim, he’s shooting a Peak LeBronian 77%. These contributions help make the Rockets a serious threat. He’s averaging a fairly modest 12.6 points, 7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists on a strong 61 TS% right now, but as his volume increases and his skills sharpen, he could find himself on a Jalen Williams-esque trajectory as a devastating scorer with All-NBA defense capabilities.