Rockets' Alperen Sengun Among Top Players at 2025 EuroBasket

With the NBA offseason reaching a dead period between free agency buzz and the start of training camp, much of the basketball world's focus will turn or has already turned toward EuroBasket, or the European Basketball Championship.

In today's NBA, many of the league's premier stars have come internationally, meaning there is plenty of All-Star talent competing in this year's EuroBasket. Players like Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) highlight the stars competing this year.

The tournament, governed by FIBA Europe, consists of 24 teams playing in a group stage from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4. From there, 16 teams move on to the playoffs, where a champion is scheduled to be crowned on Sept. 14.

ESPN's Neil Paine listed the top 10 players at EuroBasket 2025, one of which was Houston Rockets All-Star Alperen Sengun. The star center represents Turkey, ranking fifth behind Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Doncic, and Franz Wagner (Germany).

"Şengün has said he wants to win both EuroBasket 2025 and an NBA championship with the Rockets this season," Paine wrote. "Houston does look solid enough -- it has the fifth-best title odds -- after adding Kevin Durant to a young core headlined by Şengün and Amen Thompson.

"But Şengün will have to raise his game early to win the EuroBasket for a Turkish squad that is tied for seventh to win the tournament and hasn't finished better than eighth since winning silver in 2001."

The 6-foot-11 center averaged 19.1 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game for the Rockets last season, earning his first All-Star nod. Now, joined by Durant, Houston has a legitimate shot at a championship despite being in a loaded Western Conference.

Looking at the last EuroBasket in 2022, Sengun and Turkey finished 3-2 in the group stage and fell to France in the Round of 16, losing in an 87-86 overtime thriller. That year, he averaged 16.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists across six games.

In 2025, Turkey's group includes Serbia, Latvia (led by former All-Star Kristaps Porzingis), Estonia, the Czech Republic and Portugal (led by Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta).

Sengun will have a great opportunity to get his team its first title ever in EuroBasket, as it has only finished with a silver medal in 2001. There will be plenty of competition, with a flurry of All-Stars and elite talent being boasted all across Europe. Sengun is at the helm for his home country.