Written by Amaan Akhtar
On July 29th, 2021 Adam Silver the commissioner of the NBA walked onstage to announce the 16th pick in the draft, selected by the thunder. “With the 16th pick in the 2021 NBA draft the Oklahoma City Thunder select: Alperen Şengün!” The broadcast quickly stepped in after the pick was announced stating that there has been a trade and the Houston Rockets will trade 2 future first rounders for the 6 ’11, 243 lb Turkish center; a move the Rockets would benefit from for years to come.
Şengün was born in Giresun northeast Turkey, on 25 July 2002 where he was an excellent athlete performing very well in swimming and basketball which he started playing at age 8 due to watching his brother play. From a young age Şengün was a prodigy, starting his pro Turkish career at only 16 years old. By the time he was ready for the NBA, he had already made his way up the turkish ranks and won MVP in the best youth league in Turkey. On top of all that, he maintained his relationship to god and Islam in which he is still a practicing muslim.
Şengün entered the Rockets only as their 3rd center which means he barely got much playing time, being benched under Christian Wood. Luckily for Şengün, Wood would soon get traded to the Dallas Mavericks, however he still would not start and instead that role was given to Bruno Fernando. Şengüns luck wouldn’t run out there because Fernando would go down with an injury allowing for Sengun, a somewhat known in america, rookie, 3rd string center, to start for the rockets. Sengun started slow with only averaging 9 points per game. That would soon change because Hakeem Olajuwon would take Şengün under his wing and teach him some tips and tricks which Şengün says Hakeem helped him learn and perfect his spin move which is his best attribute.
In his NBA career, he has made the 2023 NBA rising stars team, and recently the 2024 All-NBA cup team which is a very prestigious award. He has broken many record such as how Sengun is the first player in NBA history to have recorded at least 3,000 points, 1,500 rebounds and 700 assists while playing fewer than 6,000 minutes through the first three seasons of a career.
Alperen Şengün remains one of the best centers under the age of 25 and inshallah continue to be one of the best centers in the NBA, keep representing his home country and Houston, and allow him to keep following and practicing Islam.