LeBron James will be carrying a heavy load in the Los Angeles Lakers' first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, especially when you consider who will be defending LeBron.
Rockets guard Amen Thompson made the All-Defensive First Team in 2025 for a reason. Thompson is an athletic freak of nature with the explosiveness, length, and strength to make life difficult for even the best guards and wings in the NBA.
Moreover, at 23 years old, Thompson is the Rockets' perfect villain to go up against a 41-year-old LeBron. The James-Thompson matchup will come with a few different storylines attached to it, including the idea of a nearly-retired all-time great looking to vanquish the next generation of athletic/genetic greatness that the NBA has to offer. Actually, Thompson might be more than just one generation removed from LeBron!
Amen Thompson was created in a lab to defend LeBron James
As LeBron is set to deal with a beast of a perimeter defender who is just two years older than James' own son, NBA analysts are speculating that LeBron might struggle in this series more than Lakers fans would like to admit.
During the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast on Friday, ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps expressed these concerns about LeBron, but more so about the lack of secondary playmakers/ballhandlers on the Lakers. Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard top that list at present, but MacMahon expressed doubts that Kennard is up to the task.
When Bontemps noted that Kennard can handle the ball a bit, MacMahon retorted rhetorically, "Against Amen Thompson and Tari Eason?"
Ultimately, Bontemps returned to the LeBron-Amen Thompson matchup as the one that matters. "There are few players in the league better equipped to guard LeBron than Amen Thompson," Bontemps asserted. "And he's 20 years younger than (James)."
LeBron must overcome Amen Thompson for Lakers to win series
Bontemps declared that the Lakers can only win the series if LeBron wins his matchup with Thompson, which Bontemps referred to as an "open question."
It's far from the only question for the Lakers. Can they survive on the glass against a Rockets team that dominates in that realm? While LeBron has his hands full with Thompson, he'll be monitoring and chipping in with all of LA's other subplots that must be won to stay in this series.
From Houston's view of things, Ime Udoka has to be more thrilled than ever that he has Thompson on his basketball team. As Bontemps alluded to, there isn't a better weapon in the NBA with the physical gifts required to give LeBron a headache. If LeBron ends up conquering Houston, it'll be all the more impressive given the fact that he had Thompson to deal with.
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