This Wednesday evening, the Toyota Center will be the scene of a new duel between two pivots of the new generation: Alperen Sengun and Chet Holmgren. Even if the Turk has just started his third season, we forget that he is only 21 years old, the same age as the Thunder rookie pivot. We also forget that they could have been teammates since Alperen Sengun was drafted by OKC in 2021 before being transferred to the Rockets.
“I’m glad they traded me,” recognizes the Turk. “I thought I was going to be a top ten pick. It gave me motivation when I didn't make the Top 10. They didn't pick me, and I wanted to show all these teams how I was going to improve my basketball and show them how I played . This is what motivated me during my first three years. I kept this motivation against all these teams.”
Alperen Sengun is therefore not necessarily more motivated by the idea of facing the Thunder, but it is still a formation that does not suit him. In his career, he averages only 8.0 points (49% success), 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists, over a sample of eight matches.
“People told me OKC is a boring city, so boring.”
Recently, on Paul George's podcast, the young Rockets interior explained that playing in Houston, and not OKC, had been essential in his integration into the United States.
“I never said I didn’t want to play there” he wanted to clarify. “It's just that if I had been there, I would have learned English a little slower because people had told me that OKC is a boring city, so boring. But they also told me that the franchise was good, and that we could improve in basketball. But I thought I would learn English more slowly there, unlike in Texas, where there were a lot of Turks, and they can help me in many areas. »
