Many called the Houston Rockets lucky for landing Alperen Sengun in the 2021 NBA Draft. The OKC Thunder originally owned the pick that the Rockets used to draft Sengun, but traded it to Houston for two future first-round picks. After two promising seasons, Sengun became an All-Star in his third year in the league, and last season, he averaged a double-double for the first time in his NBA career.
However, if you ask Rockets GM Rafael Stone, there was no luck in getting Sengun. According to Stone, they were determined to go home from the 2021 NBA Draft with both Jalen Green and Sengun.
“We definitely saw it,”said Stone about Sengun being a special player. “We traded two first-round picks to get him, so we wouldn’t have done that if we didn’t see somebody who could be this type of impactful player. Alperen, he was was the MVP of that league at 18. The only two people who had comparable success in top-tier leagues are Jokic and Luka. So I thought that was a good indicator and just watched the film, like he just does special stuff.”
He was the best player in his league at age 18
Like Jokic and Doncic, Sengun started playing professionally at a very young age. Alperen was only 16 when he suited up for Bandirma Karmizi of the second division Turkish First League. The next year, he moved up to the top-tier Turkish Super League.
In Year 3, or when he was 18 years old, Sengun was named MVP of the 2020-21 Turkish Basketball Super Ligi after averaging 19.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks per game in 29 games played for Besiktas Basketball. On the day he won the award, he also declared for the 2021 NBA Draft. Stone was stoked but had to find a way to get a second first-round pick.
“It was tough, it was COVID. I never met him in person because he couldn’t. But yeah, he was just a huge target. We picked Jalen, and then starting at pick 6, I was throwing. We were trying to come out of the draft with those two guys. I started throwing stuff to other teams, trying to trade up all the way. Immediately after we made our first pick, we were trying to get him, and we were lucky we got him,” he added.
The Rockets won the trade with the Thunder
As mentioned earlier, the Thunder owned the pick that the Rockets used to draft Sengun. In 2021, OKC GM Sam Presti was still in the process of accumulating first-round picks, and after getting their man, Josh Giddey, at No.6 overall, Presti didn’t feel the need to draft again at 16, so they surrendered it to the Rockets for two future first-rounders.
However, those two first-round picks were heavily protected, and since they were originally owned by the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards, who were bottom teams in the years after the 2021 NBA Draft, they never hit the jackpot for OKC. The Thunder ended up trading the Pistons’ pick for Frenchman Ousmane Dieng, who played 37 games last season and was part of their 2025 title team.
While the Thunder went on to win the 2025 NBA title, that 2021 draft day trade for Sengun is one of the few times Presti did not win a gamble. Although they still have one of the picks waiting to convey, Sengun has become one of the best big men in the NBA right now. Just imagine if they did not trade that pick, that OKC frontline would have been even more formidable.