The third-year Rockets center known affectionately as “Discount Jokic” is making a name for himself this season—and fueling the most pleasant early surprise in the NBA
By Michael Pina via The Ringer
When the Houston Rockets drafted Alperen Sengun, they were very concerned about how he would adjust to life in the NBA. Still only 19 years old, the Turkish teenager couldn’t speak any English.
They worried for nothing.
“He had absolutely no adjustment period,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone tells me. “None. Zero. And that’s nothing we did. It’s entirely his personality.”
Sengun’s is big. He’s gregarious, engaging, warm, and authentic. The way that manifests on a basketball court was quickly evident to Stone in 2021, when he watched Sengun’s first workouts at the Las Vegas summer league. As Houston’s coaching staff installed their playbook, Sengun couldn’t understand what they were saying, but somehow managed to not only learn all the plays and where everybody else was supposed to be, but also “through grunts and groans” command his teammates to break the play so he could hit them with flashy between-the-legs and behind-the-back passes.
“That’s very much him,” Stone laughs. “That’s just very much him.”