Ethan Thompson’s early season was defined by a chaotic rotation carousel, bouncing between brief bench cameos and heavy starter minutes while struggling to find a consistent rhythm. High-scoring nights were often deceptive. For example, he dropped 12 points on 12/13 vs PHI, but still registered a -2.8 impact. That negative mark exposed the hidden costs of his erratic shot selection, as he clanked five threes and forced terrible looks within the offense. Sometimes, the scoring column didn't matter. During a start on 12/09 vs SAC, Thompson managed a +2.1 impact despite scoring just six points, relying heavily on relentless hustle and grabbing five rebounds to generate value. Yet, those gritty flashes were too often erased by disastrously brief stints, such as his four-minute nightmare on 12/19 vs NYK where he posted a staggering -12.2 impact without recording a single stat. If he wants to survive this rotation crunch, he must stop hemorrhaging value on the nights his jumper abandons him.

Ethan Thompson spent the bulk of this stretch buried at the end of the bench, struggling to justify his sparse minutes before finally finding his rhythm in February. Early on, his floor time was an active detriment to the roster. During a dismal outing vs MIA on 12/28, he posted a brutal -20.7 Impact score after failing to score a single point and missing both of his shot attempts in 12 hollow minutes. Even when his playing time spiked vs DET on 01/18, his 10 points masked a highly inefficient performance. Thompson forced terrible looks all night, clanking his way to a 3-for-13 shooting mark—including an abysmal 1-for-8 from beyond the arc—which kept his Impact score submerged at -3.6 despite the double-digit scoring. He finally flipped the script vs BKN on 02/11. Playing 26 minutes, he delivered an efficient 15 points, five rebounds, and three assists while hitting three of his six triples to earn a stellar +8.7 Impact.