Anthony Thompson: Connector or Correction?

Scouting is an inexact science.

This is the analysis you come to No Ceilings for, I know.

On a more serious note, the meat of the mission of scouting basketball players is to make sense of what you see. Whether in the box score, in the metrics, or, most importantly, on the court, the real work is figuring out whether what you see is what you should believe.

It’s worth thinking about whether your preconceived notions will actually come true. Major recruiting services, along with popular media figures, like to anoint prospects early, but how much of that love for an elite prospect comes from an inherent bias they may not even register?

A valuable role on the basketball court that’s emerged in recent years has been the connector wing. While some minds see it as a liability to be a jack of all trades, others believe the “master of none” approach gives players a more versatile portfolio of ways to impact winning. No one has a definitive answer, but the prevalence of toolsy, do-it-all wings in the modern NBA makes it clear what pro teams want.

For wing recruits who need more time but had a strong high school ranking, the toughest question is how drastically to adjust your view. Wiry wings can take longer to adjust to the physicality, while wing players who had the ball in their hands because of their positive measurables can be stifled once they realize they aren’t the biggest player on the block anymore.

Ohio State’s Anthony Thompson, the team’s highest-ranked freshman commit since D’Angelo Russell, brings tantalizing upside to a team primed to stay good after program icon Bruce Thornton’s departure. There’s still a lot to learn about Thompson’s game, and it may take time to see whether he can be a freshman phenom connector or whether the early hype needs a correction.

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The Case for Connector

Coming out of high school, it wasn’t hard to see why Anthony Thompson was an appealing wing prospect. At a wiry 6’9” with a reported 7’3” wingspan, Thompson has the look of a future pro wing. With his bouncy vertical and room to grow on his frame, his high recruiting-service ranking makes sense.

Per Ohio State’s roster reference page, Anthony Thompson was an absolute engine for Western Reserve Academy as a senior. Thompson averaged 24.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. He was the clear first option on a roster with little other high-level talent, which naturally put the ball in his hands most of the time.

Alongside his most recent Adidas 3SSB season, where he also topped 20 points per game as a top option, it’s clear Thompson has had plenty of touches to work on being a top option. He had the ball in his hands a lot, took a lot of threes, and got to test what it would look like to lead an offense.

We’ll get to it soon, but based on his early college tape, that’s likely not the role he’ll end up filling at the NBA level. Instead, it’s a slight positive that he has enough ball skills to break down defenders off the dribble, looks comfortable getting his own shot, and has enough long-distance looks to assuage any aesthetic concerns that could creep into the evaluation of his form.

It’s an unorthodox lefty shot release, to say the least, but with plenty of evidence, I’m willing to believe Thompson’s floor spacing is a real threat defenses will have to account for when he’s on the court. He shot 38.3% on 153 attempts across 34 games per Synergy, taking an outsized 7.3 threes per game. He hasn’t matched that frequency yet, but if he can shoot with the same efficiency in Columbus, he should be a certified spacer.

As a rim finisher, Thompson used his length to finish over and through defenders at Western Reserve Academy. He had fifty dunks and hit a healthy 64.6% clip on his layups at the rim last season, both of which hold up on film. It is worth mentioning that, against lesser competition, Thompson had a handful of more “casual” finishes than I’d expect from a player of his caliber, since he didn’t have to work as hard to dunk or score.

As a shot creator, Thompson had to create a lot of magic for himself. He showed enough as a pull-up shooter from deep and in the midrange to inspire optimism about his ability to create, even though his handle is still shaky and can’t be relied on every time the shot clock is winding down.

Beyond his scoring package, Thompson also showed enough chops as a passer and defender for his role to offer versatility when thinking about his next position. He had 56 steals and 32 blocks last season, most of them the extremely athletic variety. While his assist-to-turnover ratio was about even, he still put up solid numbers while passing to teammates who weren’t as talented as he was.

It was a foregone conclusion that Thompson wouldn’t get the same role at Ohio State, but given his versatility and athleticism, he looked like a perfect high-level role player. Alongside veterans like Juni Mobley Jr., Amare Bynum, and Andrija Jelavic, Thompson would’ve had the perfect chance to fill any role the team needed while showing off his great athleticism.

That connector role, while not as gaudy as his past star spots, would’ve been a mightily tantalizing package to sell to NBA teams. Instead, Thompson has had a more complicated start, to say the least, and his stock may need a serious correction heading into the rest of the season.

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The Case for Correction

Before we make any grand statements, let’s put things in perspective. It’s only been three games. The Buckeyes are still a work in progress, having lost their college icon in Bruce Thornton. Plus, the team faced a tough first-game matchup against a highly ranked BYU team with plenty of potential NBA talent of its own.

Now that the excuses are out of the way, we can look at what’s led to a dramatic start for Anthony Thompson. Through three games, all of which he has started, Thompson is averaging 5.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game on ghastly shooting splits of 28.6% on two-pointers and 18.2% on three-pointers.

If any other player were putting up these stats, they wouldn’t even be considered a draft prospect. That’s blunt but true, as Thompson’s five-star status is buoying him even in a muddled draft class like this one. While the lack of pure counting stats might be attributed to Thompson being just seventh in usage on the team, his efficiency and overall impact may be where his draft stock needs correction.

It’s only three games, so each one can serve as good evidence. Against BYU, who have pro-level athletes like Bruce Branch III, Jaxon Kohler, and Tyler Betsey, Thompson was mostly invisible. He floated through offensive sets, didn’t generate defensive events, and had no impact. Missing all four of his deep looks also didn’t do much to dissuade naysayers about his shot form either. Again, this was the team’s toughest matchup, so I’ll give Thompson some slack in his first college game.

The more worrying game, in my eyes, was against Youngstown State, which, per BartTorvik’s metrics, ranked as the 189th-best team last season. The Buckeyes blew out the Penguins by 24, but once again, Thompson simply wasn’t a factor. He got a pair of steals, a block, and made a basket, but he once again played without force or impact in 17 minutes. Against a team that didn’t have any major perimeter athletes to stifle Thompson with physicality, it’s a problem that he was once again a non-factor in the game’s outcome.

If you’re looking for silver linings, they come from Thompson’s defense. He stayed attached to wing players, moved well off the ball, and generated some positive plays with his length. Still, if you’re in the camp that Thompson should be a top pick in this summer’s draft like I was, it’s simply not enough for a player to play solid wing defense and have a singular transition dunk.

Against the Thunder Herd, who put up a fair fight against Ohio State, Thompson did have a relative breakout game. He canned two threes, grabbed three defensive and offensive boards, and also snagged another steal. This was the type of performance, both in archetype and impact, that points to what Thompson can do as a connector. He helped the Buckeyes grab tough rebounds, spaced the floor, and was a presence on both ends.

This was notably the first game in which Thompson hit his threes and layups, after missing a few bunnies in his first few games. He still played the same consistent defense as against BYU and Youngstown State, but pairing it with consistent scoring changed the calculus for the Buckeyes in a game they couldn’t afford to lose.

That’s the type of role that Thompson can sell to NBA teams. Granted, he’ll need to do all of this consistently to get back on draft boards, but it took only three games for the glimpses to emerge. The first two have a ton of skepticism baked in, which has cast a pall over Thompson’s draft stock, but when it’s that hard to find positives on either end of the floor, it’s fair to wonder how much correction is in order.

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Connector or Correction?

Before the college basketball season started, Anthony Thompson was a buzzy name for the top of the 2027 draft class. Heck, I had him in my Top 5! Through the first three games, however, Thompson has had an ignominious start that has cast doubt on whether he will factor into this year’s class at all. It’s worth taking a serious look at whether he can still be the connector he seemed primed to be after his high school career, or whether he needs a stiff correction to his draft stock.

There have been only a few flashes, but those are enough for me not to fully correct course on a player that I liked coming into this season. Thompson’s athletic profile hasn’t changed, which still makes him an enticing wing. He’s also only taken 18 shots and played 57 minutes, which are puny sample sizes and nowhere near statistically significant or noisy enough to matter yet.

Thompson will need to show more of what he did against Marshall against other teams, because that kind of ghostly play won’t lead to success at the Big Ten level. He has a great opportunity ahead of him, as the Buckeyes play the UConn Huskies today. The Huskies just redeemed their championship-title loss to the Michigan Wolverines, showing they’re a serious contender this season. A strong game against them, or against any non-conference opponent like Vanderbilt or Kansas, will go a long way toward redeeming Thompson’s draft stock.

So, with only so much tape and evidence to go on, I’m not quite course-correcting on Anthony Thompson yet. He’ll take a steady drop down my board, but should still slot in as a Top 30 player. Whether he can be that connector or will need a further correction to his draft stock remains to be seen in his upcoming games during his potential-only season at Ohio State.