The Houston Rockets will continue their three-game road trip Sunday evening during a Western Conference match against the Sacramento Kings. Jalen Green and De'Aaron Fox could have an epic scoring duel. But Domantas Sabonis and Alperen Şengün will be the main headliners inside the Golden 1 Center.
Şengün has spent the previous year drawing comparisons to Sabonis. Similar to his success in Sacramento, Sabonis believes Şengün's career year is a testament to the three-year big man taking advantage of his new opportunities.
"The skill level is getting better and better," Sabonis told reporters following Saturday's practice. "They are playing a lot more through him. He is one of the main guys on the team. He is getting his touches and making the team better. It's going to be a lot of fun."
Şengün is entering his contest against Sabonis off the heels of some of his best career performances, averaging 27.0 points, 13.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.5 steals over the previous four games.
He led the Rockets to a 3-1 record during the stretch. His best performance came amid Houston's 114-101 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night. Şengün posted a career-best 45 points against Victor Wembanyama. Twenty-four hours later, Şengün recorded his second-career triple-double of 23 points, 19 rebounds and 14 assists in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Şengün got the best of Sabonis during the Rockets' two-game sweep of the Kings in November.
Coach Mike Brown was the first to notice the improvements, not just Şengün on an individual level, but the Rockets as a whole, made during their early regular-season meetings inside the Toyota Center.
"You can tell that some of those veterans are helping the young guys out," Brown said. "They are playing more together, they're playing harder. It doesn't seem like you will be able to get easy baskets, especially in transition, like in the past. Ime [Udoka] is doing a nice job with a young team."
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