A handful of top NBA stars such as Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are currently playing at EuroBasket with their respective national teams. Houston Rockets rising star Alperen Sengun is participating at EuroBasket with Turkey, and he recently put up a triple double against Poland to lead Turkey to the semifinals.
Alperen Sengun’s triple double in Turkey’s win against Poland was only the sixth triple double in EuroBasket history, but after the game he was quick to give credit to his teammates, as per EuroHoops.net.
“I have really good teammates, they’re the ones who tell me,” Sengun said. “I didn’t start by scoring; they really helped me. I just kept finding my teammates. At some point, they were telling me, ‘Get one more rebound.” I’m happy that we won the game. The triple double doesn’t mean much right now.”
Against Poland, Segun finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and ten assists, displaying the type of all-around game that has made him one of the most intriguing young big men in the NBA. With the win, Turkey advances to the EuroBasket Semifinals against Antetokounmpo and Greece on Friday.
In the other quarterfinal bracket, Doncic and Slovenia will face-off against Germany, while Finland will take on Georgia. The winner of that semifinal bracket will then match up against the winner of Turkey and Greece.
This past NBA season Sengun was selected to his first All-Star appearance. He recorded four triple doubles in 2024-25, after putting up a combined four in his first three NBA seasons. Against the Minnesota Timberwolves back on Nov. 26, Sengun made NBA history as the youngest player to get a triple double.
Sengun appeared in 76 games for the Rockets last year at a little over 31 minutes per game. He averaged 19.1 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 49.6 percent shooting from the field, 23.3 percent shooting from the the three-point line and 69.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
