Fantasy Basketball Draft Guide 2025: Face-off, Amen Thompson vs. Jalen Johnson

Last Updated on October 18, 2025 11:02 pm by Keston Paul | Published: October 18, 2025

Our Fantasy Face-Off series will feature two SportsEthos staffers making their arguments in a head-to-head battle of comparable fantasy players.

Amen Thompson and Jalen Johnson are typically off boards in the second round or third round, depending on the platform. Today it’s Tim Woodson in Amen Thompson’s corner and Mike Passador throwing his support toward Jalen Johnson.

Last Season

Amen Thompson

SG, Houston Rockets

Season	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FGM	FGA	FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	3PTM	3PTA	3PT%	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
24-25	HOU	69	40	32.2	5.6	10.1	55.7	2.4	3.6	68.4	0.4	1.3	27.5	14.1	8.2	3.8	1.4	1.3	2.0
23-24	HOU	62	23	22.4	3.9	7.2	53.6	1.7	2.5	68.4	0.1	0.9	13.8	9.5	6.6	2.6	1.3	0.6	1.5

Jalen Johnson

PF, Atlanta Hawks

Season	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FGM	FGA	FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	3PTM	3PTA	3PT%	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
24-25	ATL	36	36	35.7	7.5	15.1	50.0	2.6	3.5	74.6	1.2	3.9	31.2	18.9	10.0	5.0	1.6	1.0	2.9
23-24	ATL	56	52	33.7	6.4	12.5	51.1	1.9	2.6	72.8	1.3	3.6	35.5	16.0	8.7	3.6	1.2	0.8	1.8

Amen Thompson formally introduced himself as a high-level fantasy and real-life player in his sophomore season. That shaped up into per-game value of 59/54 (8/9-cat) across the entire season; however, Thompson had a higher range of production when he nailed down a starting job. With immense value in FG%, rebounds and blocks from the guard position, plus upside to boost his scoring and assists further after the unfortunate Fred VanVleet (ACL) season-ending news, Thompson’s exciting athleticism could translate into sensational fantasy numbers. Let us not forget that he excels in the steals column too.

Jalen Johnson has been in the mix for Most Improved Player two years in a row. On a per-game basis, Johnson was 19/21 (8-cat/9-cat) in 2024-25, but was limited to 36 games after playing 56 games in the season prior. Johnson has something on his side, which is that we’ve seen him be a second-round player on a per-game basis. On the other hand, he hasn’t put together a healthy season since his breakout. This should be the best Hawks roster Johnson has played on and he has shown the propensity to improve on a yearly basis. If he can figure out the health stuff, he has a lot of known and unknown potential on his side.

Both of these players have broad fantasy skill sets with their only weaknesses being threes and FT%. Who is the better bet for your squads?