Alperen Sengun can make a statement against Greece
Alperen Sengun was already, quite clearly, the guy for Türkiye before EuroBasket 2025. In the semi-finals, against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, he can do more than just impress. A second medal in his nation’s history is at stake and Sengun could become transcendent with a big night. Emmet Ryan on the big job ahead for the Houston Rockets star.
Everyone knew that Türkiye would lean heavily on Alperen Sengun long before EuroBasket 2025 started. The Houston Rockets man has however shown the full range of his game. With Shane Larkin having said Sengun has taken “that next step” there’s a big opportunity for him on Friday.
The numbers
The raw stats alone merit attention. Alperen Sengun is 7th in scoring (21.6 ppg), 2nd in rebounds (10.9 rpg), and 3rd in assists (7.1 apg) at EuroBasket 2025. It’s the way he integrates these aspects into making Türkiye work as a team that is most interesting.
Türkiye have done a better job than most at not making it obvious their top guy is their focus offensively. Sengun’s role as creator in chief for the side, with Shane Larkin quite an able scoring point guard to work with, has enabled him to create his own space in the paint.
That aspect has been more modestly used by him with the Houston Rockets in his NBA career to date. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an important creator for them, but he has shown in this tournament that he can use this aspect of his game more to improve opportunities for himself in other areas.
The icon
Nikola Jokic is regularly referred to, at least on this side of the Atlantic, as the greatest player in the world. The main place where people disagree with that is in Greece. Giannis Antetokounmpo, with his pair of NBA MVP titles and one championship, In terms of star power, Giannis is only rivalled by Luka Doncic among players left at EuroBasket 2025. At least for now.
Alperen Sengun has a glorious opportunity to truly announce himself to the continent. His performance in victory over Jokic and Serbia in the group stage grabbed attention. A repeat, or even surpassing that, against Giannis would be much bigger given the stakes. A EuroBasket semi-final alone is huge, yet against historical rivals Greece would be enormous for Türkiye.
The best part is that he doesn’t need to try to be different here. The best way for Sengun to help Türkiye win is to keep developing the way he is. Greece are going to try to work out defensive schemes to neutralise him offensively. Yet Poland found out that even if you temporarily limit his scoring then he can open up the floor for so many others.
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He’s also used better
This is something I’ll address from the Greek perspective in my column on Giannis Antetokounmpo tomorrow but it’s worth noting here. Alperen Sengun’s usage by Ergin Ataman has been really smart. Impressive as the numbers are, Türkiye are far from running him into the ground.
His triple double performance against Poland came in 31 minutes, lower than his three previous games. Granted he played a role in 16 of Türkiye’s 30 scores from the field but Cedi Osman, Ercan Osmani, and Shane Larkin all played roles in lightening that load. Additionally, Sehmus Hazer and Furkan Korkmaz provided superb scoring help.
Türkiye is set up to enable Sengun to find the best way for himself to dominate. There are other shooters to work with, others to help on the inside both with heft and athleticism. Adem Bona is averaging just 13.5 minutes per game but he is loved by Türkiye because his workrate is such that it has a real benefit for those with heavier minutes. The indirect beneficiary in chief being, of course, the Houston Rockets man.
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While Alperen Sengun is the star for Türkiye at EuroBasket 2025 but the Houston Rockets man has also built up a strong relationship with veteran Shane Larkin.
This really has been visible for a while
Ask any Houston Rockets fan and most of them will tell you they saw potential from Alperen Sengun to be a serious contributor early. They also probably saw his potential to be a star earlier than most. Here’s the thing, even when the Rockets were bad, Sengun passed every eyeball test.
While 2023/24 is usually seen as his breakout season, plenty of casual observers who might have only caught the Rockets half-asleep on a couch, could spot him as standing out as a real talent on the 22-60 team. Now the question is what level of player he can be in the whole of the NBA, not just amongst his teammates.
At EuroBasket 2025, the 23 year old is showing that he has the right mix needed for Türkiye. He knows when to defer but his confidence has a maturity to it that belies his years. In practical terms, he’s a grown ass man. Fans of his teams, be they in Houston or Türkiye, can also see that he’s still on an upward curve. This is a man playing at star level and comfortably on the path to name brand level. A win in Riga on Friday night would do that ascendancy no harm at all.
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