Houston is building around Amen Thompson for the long haul.

The Rockets signed Thompson to a five-year, $208 million rookie scale extension, locking him up through 2032 in what signals as a serious vote of confidence from the front office. Notably, despite what looks like a gaudy number, Thompson left money on the table to get the deal done–his max contract would have been worth $252 million, a trade-off that gives Houston more flexibility to keep building a contender around him.

The fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft, Thompson led the NBA in minutes played last season, and the way that he has performed over his first three years in the league make it easy to see why the Rockets wanted him locked in. 

Now 23, he has developed into one of the league’s top defensive players. Last year, he averaged 18.3 points on 53.4 percent shooting, 7.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.5 steals a game across 79 appearances. With Fred VanVleet, Houston’s presumptive starting point guard, lost for the entirety of last season to a torn ACL, Thompson had to shoulder a bigger role, taking on more ball-handling responsibility and, in turn, more minutes than anyone else in the league.

The one real hole in his game remains his outside shot. 

Thompson is already an elite defender and a load to deal with attacking the rim or running in transition, but he shot just 21.6 percent from three-point range last season. There is reason for optimism though: his free-throw shooting jumped from 68.4 percent over his first two seasons to 77.9 percent last year, suggesting that his shot is not entirely broken and just needs some tweaks.

That’s likely why Houston also brought in Chip Engelland, arguably the most famous shooting coach in the NBA. Engelland has a track record of turning good players into All-Stars by fixing their perimeter shots, having worked with Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, and Dejounte Murray among others while he was with the San Antonio Spurs. Most recently, he spent four seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, helping shape their young core through their 2025 championship run, before making the move to Houston with Thompson as his clear priority mentee.

Between the extension and the addition of Engelland, the Rockets have made their intentions clear: Thompson is one of, if not the, cornerstones of this franchise. At 6-foot-7, 200 pounds, with a 7-foot wingspan, he already has the physical tools to do just about anything on a basketball court. 

Shooting is the one piece missing, and it’s a significant one, but if he can even partially close that gap, there’s little standing between him and perennial All-Star status.