Life without Alperen Sengun has proven difficult for the Houston Rockets.
After entering the month with the third-best offensive rating in the NBA, Houston has fallen to 23rd over its last three games, all of which Sengun has missed.
And the setback should linger, as Sengun is not expected back for at least another week with his right ankle sprain.
A step back was to be expected, as Sengun is second on the team in scoring at nearly 22 points per game. But what’s been surprising is where the regression has shown up.
The Rockets fell, 103-102, in Portland Wednesday night and are a Kevin Durant buzzer-beater away from being 0-3 without Sengun, while scoring fewer than 105 points in each game.
But the more glaring decline has come from beyond the arc.
Rockets can't find the range
It’s no coincidence that the Rockets’ three worst shooting performances from 3-point range this season have occurred in the last three games without Sengun.
Houston shot a woeful 8-of-36 (22%) from deep Wednesday, following a 9-of-37 (24%) effort on Monday and a 10-of-41 (22%) performance Saturday – the game in which Sengun suffered his injury one minute in.
That’s a combined 23%, the worst mark in the NBA this month, for a team that was leading the league in 3-point percentage. It’s also far below the league’s worst shooting team, the Dallas Mavericks (33%).
The irony is that Sengun is not a prolific 3-point shooter, connecting on just 31% of his tries while only averaging two attempts per game. But it’s tough to replace an offensive weapon like him, especially when the Rockets began running their offense through him this year. In his absence, Houston has turned to more shots from beyond the arc.
Part of the reason Houston was able to lead the league in 3-point shooting as long as they did was that they took the fewest in the league. They chose quality over quantity, maximizing efficiency. But since Sengun’s injury, Houston has launched more than 35 threes in each game, after averaging fewer than 30 attempts per contest.
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Jan 7, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; Houston Rockets guard Josh Okogie (20) shoots the ball against Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) during the first half at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
© Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images
More issues than just shooting
The other missing element is his playmaking. Despite being a center, Sengun leads the team with nearly seven assists per game. Already lacking a true point guard, following the Fred VanVleet injury, and now Sengun, as well, Houston has struggled to set up clean offensive looks without a true organizer.
With Sengun on the floor, he’s able to create more open looks for his guards with an inside-out style of offense, due to the attention he commands. Without him, Houston is not only relying on more 3-point attempts, but also on lower-quality looks due to lateral ball movement. It’s now quantity without the quality.
A shift that helps explain recent losses to a 14-23 Dallas team and an 18-20 Portland squad this week.
Durant has excelled while attempting to fill the void, scoring more than 25 points in each of the three games. Still, his efficiency has dropped, as Durant is shooting just 25% from beyond the arc this month.
And while he can find his shot in the dark, others are certainly missing the setups from Sengun: Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. are both shooting under 27% from beyond the arc this month.
While there’s plenty of concern about how well the Denver Nuggets can tread water without Nikola Jokic, the Rockets are suddenly facing a similar question (on a smaller scale) without their star that many affectionately call “Baby Jokic.”
Houston enters Thursday’s action as just the sixth seed in the Western Conference.