{"id":124598,"date":"2025-06-25T22:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T22:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/124598\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T22:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T22:20:10","slug":"one-rockets-star-needs-to-stop-copying-nikola-jokic-to-win-nba-title-with-kevin-durant-claims-gilbert-arenas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/124598\/","title":{"rendered":"One Rockets star needs to stop copying Nikola Jokic to win NBA title with Kevin Durant, claims Gilbert Arenas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Houston Rockets have traded for Kevin Durant, but it doesn\u2019t make them a championship contender straightaway.<\/p>\n

In the 2024-25 season, the Houston Rockets<\/a> finished as the second seed in the Western Conference<\/a> with a 52-30 record.<\/p>\n

However, after facing a first-round postseason exit, the Rockets decided to trade for Kevin Durant<\/a> in exchange for Jalen Green<\/a>, Dillon Brooks<\/a>, No. 10 pick in 2025 NBA Draft, and an additional five future second-round draft picks.<\/p>\n

Sure, the Rockets\u2019 potential starting five with Durant<\/a> would look amazing, but former NBA star Gilbert Arenas<\/a> believes it still wouldn\u2019t make them an NBA title contender in the loaded West.<\/p>\n

\"DenverPhoto by Alex Bierens de Haan\/Getty ImagesAlperen Sengun needs to stop copying Nikola Jokic for Houston Rockets to win it all<\/p>\n

Agent Zero is known for his scorching hot takes on the NBA. Arenas delivered just that during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.<\/p>\n

When asked if the Rockets are an NBA Championship contender with Durant, Arenas felt like the team is not ready yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they are ready for that yet, their games are not mature. [Alperen] Sengun still thinks he\u2019s [Nikola] Jokic, when you\u2019re Sengun.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys have different games, but you have to understand what you\u2019re good at, stop trying to be Jokic. So, he\u2019s still trying to figure out what his game is,\u201d Arenas said.<\/p>\n

Gil wasn\u2019t done, as he also pointed out how Amen Thompson<\/a> is yet to find an identity in the NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cSame thing with Amen [Thompson]. Amen\u2019s trying to figure out what his game is. We know, you\u2019re a freak of nature. We know you\u2019re a two-way player, but you really have to carve out your identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith so many pieces trying to figure out who they are, I don\u2019t know if they\u2019re going to be a real contender, but they do have Kevin Durant,\u201d Arenas concluded.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Alperen Sengun once responded to being called \u2018Baby Jokic\u2019<\/p>\n

Going back to Arenas\u2019 point about Alperen Sengun<\/a> being compared to Denver Nuggets<\/a> superstar Nikola Jokic<\/a>, the Rockets star has even earned the nickname of \u2018Baby Jokic.\u2019<\/p>\n

Sengun addressed this comparison during a January 26, 2024, episode of JJ Redick\u2019s<\/a> \u2018The Old Man and The Three\u2019 podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t bother me for now. I\u2019m still young! But after some point, yeah\u2026 They mean that my game is similar to his but when I grow up, I don\u2019t want to hear that,\u201d Sengun boldly stated.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Getting compared to an NBA champion and a 3x NBA MVP is no small deal, but Sengun indeed wants to carve out his own identity as he gains experience in the league.<\/p>\n

Despite Sengun issuing this statement, it\u2019s safe to say Arenas doesn\u2019t feel like the Rockets star has succeeded in getting out of Jokic\u2019s shadow, at least for now.<\/p>\n

Will the 2025-26 NBA season be any different while playing alongside Durant? Only time will tell.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets have traded for Kevin Durant, but it doesn\u2019t make them a championship contender straightaway. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[1307,7,187,565,292,194,4066,938,6,253,211,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-124598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-gilbert-arenas","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-rockets","14":"tag-houstonrockets","15":"tag-kevin-durant","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nikola-jokic","18":"tag-rockets","19":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114746335296234585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}