Is Rockets' Alperen Sengun Ready for MVP Consideration?

Alperen Sengun's star haw been on the rise for several seasons now. In 2023-24, he amassed over a million All-Star votes. 

Last season he officially got the All-Star nod. And many thought he was an All-NBA snub. 

There was a viable argument. 

Sengun has been compared to Denver Nuggets MVP center Nikola Jokic for years now, in addition to Sacramento Kings All-NBA center Domantas Sabonis, due to his ability to initiate offense and play point center.

Most bigs haven't been capable passers like those three. What Sengun has lacked in the past has been his outside shot, especially in comparison to those two.

Sengun was a 23.3 percent outside shooter just last season and simply got to a point where he wouldn't even take a high volume of them.

In the Rockets' opening day duel against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sengun was arguably the best player on the floor.

Even with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the court. Sengun did it all.

Perhaps that's why Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey cited him as being ready for MVP consideration. 

"The Houston Rockets came up one point shy of the Oklahoma City Thunder in a double-overtime thriller that tipped off the entire NBA season on Tuesday, but it's hard to fault Alperen Şengün for that.

In 49 minutes, Şengün had 39 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block. He unveiled a new, potentially terrifying weapon, going 5-of-8 from three. He was plus-nine in a one-point loss.

After making the All-Star Five at EuroBasket 2025, Şengün's confidence isn't just through the roof. It blew it off. He was hitting contested threes, twirling through the lane on the way to soft finishes at the rim and consistently setting up his teammates for open looks.

And if his team is as tough as it looked on opening night (despite the loss), it's going to win enough games to put Şengün in some MVP talks (or at least on the fringe of them)."

Sengun was the Rockets' best outside shooter in the opener, going 5-for-8 from behind the arc. He also was almost perfect from the foul line (10-of-11), which is a massive improvement for the center, who made good on just 69.2 percent of his trips at the foul line last season. 

Sengun also poured in three defensive stocks, which is an area of his game that doesn't get talked about enough. All told, it's never a good idea to draw season-long conclusions after just one game, but Sengun definitely looked like a potential MVP on Tuesday night.