The Los Angeles Lakers will not be short on competition for Western Conference supremacy. The blood bath between juggernauts will be made all the more challenging if Alperen Sengun brings back his excellent EuroBasket form to the Houston Rockets in 2025-26.
Houston made their big play of the offseason when they acquired Kevin Durant in a trade with the Phoenix Suns. They even added some key role players in instances like stealing Dorian Finney-Smith directly from the Lakers.
However, the major reason why many would have found those additions so intimidating had to do with the rapidly improving young core which the Rockets possess. Players like Sengun, Amen Thompson, and Tari Eason have all shown plenty of reasons to be intimidated by their potential NBA ceiling.
The Rocks center, who is the only one of the bunch to have already established himself as an All-Star, has provided plenty of ammunition to add to those fears during EuroBasket 2025. Most Lakers fans have been heavily invested in watching the incredible job Luka Doncic has done carrying Slovenia through the competition. Sengun's 5-0 Turkey squad should not be ignored.
Alperen Sengun's leap is fueling Lakers' fears for 2025-26
No one in Los Angeles was entering the 2025-26 season under the impression that Sengun was anything other than a star. However, it is the level to which his stardom can be expected to rise that should be concerning to the Lakers now.
Sengun averaged 19.1 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game, shooting 49.6 percent from the field, in 2025-26. Those were strong numbers and production.
The way Sengun has performed at EuroBasket 2025 indicates an uptick should be coming. That is even with the arrival of Durant cutting into a piece of the pie on offense.
Sengun has averaged 21.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks in 29.0 minutes per game through Turkey's first five games of the EuroBasket competition. The All-Star big man is shooting 65.6 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from 3-point thus far.
However, that is not the most impressive note from EuroBasket 2025 for the rising star.
🇹🇷 Alperen Sengun: 28 PTS 13 REB 8 AST
🇷🇸 Nikola Jokic: 22 PTS 9 REB 4 AST 3 STL
A duel for the ages in one of the best #EuroBasket games of all-time! pic.twitter.com/reO1uqA6dy
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) September 3, 2025
Turkey went head-to-head with Serbia, the presumed favorites heading into the tournament, and won a nail-biting 95-90 ball game. That effort was led by Sengun's dominant 28-point, 13-rebound, and 8-assist performance.
"If I'm in my day, I feel like nobody can guard me," Sengun said in an interview during EuroBasket.
That is the type of uber confidence the 23-year-old will force the Lakers to contend with during 2025-26. JJ Redick better be readying the schematics accordingly ahead of the new season.