Alperen Şengün of the Houston Rockets is one of the more promising young big men in the NBA, and multiple teams were reportedly quite interested in trading for the 22-year-old.
“When there was even a whiff of Şengün’s availability on the market, and I don’t know if he was ever really available at all, but there was some teams that were really, really interested
to get into that bidding,” ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on Friday’s episode of his podcast (21:56 mark).
Unfortunately for other teams around the league, it doesn’t seem like the Rockets will be moving him.
“We get calls on all our young guys. We have no interest in moving him,” Houston general manager Rafael Stone
said of Şengün during an appearance on Sirius XM radio (h/t Rahat Huq of Forbes).
For now, the big man is scheduled for restricted free agency after the 2024-25 campaign, but he said during an
appearance on Turkish television that he wants to remain with the Rockets (h/t Michael Shapiro of the Houston Chronicle).
“I want to sign, of course, because when you do, you have peace of mind,” Şengün said. “You secure your future, and you don’t have to worry anymore. You don’t have the fear of getting injured.”
Şengün suffered one of those injuries last season to his ankle and knee and did not play after Match 10.
Still, he impressed on his way to per-game averages of 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 53.7 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from deep. It was a
breakout performance for the 2021 first-round draft pick and seemed to signal his arrival as an impact big for years to come.
Given his age, production and overall potential, it comes as no surprise that the Rockets don’t want to move him and other teams are interested in acquiring him.
For now, though, he will look to help Houston make the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign.
