You might be surprised to hear that the NBA hasn’t broken their streak of keeping a pair of twins employed for nearly 25 years. Not the same individuals, of course, but there’s consistently been identical brothers on NBA rosters since the 2001 draft.

Going back a bit further than that, the first pair were Dick and Tom Arsdale, both playing from 1965 to 1977 —— but the NBA went without a set of twins for a decade afterwards.

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Horace Grant was drafted 10th overall in 1987, leaving his twin behind for a year before Harvey was drafted 12th overall the next season. With Horace playing until 2004, his brother’s 11 year career gave us another solid streak to admire until 1999. Unfortunately that had to come to an end as well.

Just two years after Harvey’s retirement, our Houston Rockets unknowingly started this current streak by drafting Jason Collins 18th overall in the 2001 draft. It is worth mentioning he was immediately traded to New Jersey. Regardless, Jarron Collins was selected 53rd in the same draft and the pair played in the league until 2011.

The Lopez twins, drafted in 2008, really did the heavy lifting to keep this streak alive. Brook, drafted 10th, is still in the league 18 years later. The more scraggly of the two, Robin Lopez, was drafted 15th and still played 16 seasons, last seeing an NBA court in the 2023-2024 season.

While Robin and Brook were doing their thing early on, the Morris twins were making history in their field. They were the first pair of brothers, twins or otherwise —— heck, maybe the first family members to go back to back in the draft. Markieff going 13th and Marcus coming to Houston with the 14th pick in 2011.

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A couple of years into their career, they also became the first twins to ever start for the same team in an NBA game, after Marcus joined his brother in Phoenix. To my knowledge, this is also where they became the only NBA players to share a joint bank account, and possibly the only ones to have matching tattoos, too. An interesting pair of twins that I’m glad helped keep this streak alive.

With more twins than ever before, the Martin twins joined the list when Cody was drafted to Charlotte in 2019. Despite going un-drafted, Caleb still found his way onto the Hornets to play with his brother the same year, then ultimately ended up on a Finals bound Miami Heat roster.

Champagnie brothers are the only un-drafted pair to make the league. Justin making the jump in 2021 and Julian following behind the following year, they both carved out roles for themselves through the G-League.

Keegan and Kris Murray have also been in the NBA since 2022 and 2023, respectively. Keegan going to Sacramento with the 4th overall pick, and Kris to Portland at 23rd.

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The new kids on the block are obviously Amen and Ausar Thompson. Like the Morris brothers, the Thompsons were drafted back to back. Another impressive accomplishment, but actually a new record too, getting selected 4th and 5th in 2023. The first and only twins to be top five draft picks.

Friday’s “Rivals Week” game in Detroit was just the fifth matchup in their NBA careers, according to Land Of Basketball. Really only the fifth time in their entire basketball careers, considering they played on the same high school and professional teams with Overtime Elite.

Through their first three seasons, both saw their teams struggle as rookies, then make massive improvements last year. After significant roster moves in the offseason and an early matchup in October, they met again about halfway through this season.

With similar team trajectories and each twin having a 2-2 record against the other, Amen walked away with the victory, as covered on Roundtable. A bragging right that neither of the ultra-competitive brothers will forget any time soon, making it a fun game within the game to keep your eye on for years to come.