The Athletic<\/em> while in Philadelphia for a road trip. He had just arrived at his room after landing. He\u2019s staying at a five-star hotel. He hears a knock at the door. It\u2019s room service.<\/p>\n\u201cGive me one second,\u201d he says to the attendant. \u201cYeah, come in here. Just put it there. Thank you. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ordered steak, spinach and mashed potatoes. The white plates, the silver lids, the way it is wheeled into the room \u2014 none of it is lost on him. He doesn\u2019t feel jaded. Because when he sees the warm plates, he is reminded of how different his upbringing was.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course it hits me,\u201d the 23-year-old says. \u201cI talk about this stuff with my family, because they know where we came from. I couldn\u2019t talk about this to my friend, because they don\u2019t know where I came from, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the cars I have right now, even those, I\u2019m remembering like, we used to be all in the bus, or walking someplace. Now I have whatever I want. And it\u2019s like, really crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He feels pride every time he gets in his car, touches the wheel, knowing he can transport his brother, sister and parents anywhere they want in Houston when they visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can go anywhere,\u201d he says. \u201cNo need to look for anyone to pick us up. It\u2019s an amazing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is also a complex one. Because acquiring wealth does not erase memories of not having. And the more he makes, the more his old life seems farther and farther away. He thinks about that discrepancy \u201call the time,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful. I pray all the time. I think everything as a reason happened to me. And I believed God opened a lot of ways for me. And everything is for a reason, you know?<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family right now, nobody works,\u201d he continues, \u201cbecause I don\u2019t want them to. I just wanted them to take care of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room-service attendant returns. He has sweet potato fries for \u015eeng\u00fcn. A nice surprise. A perk of this new life he has built.<\/p>\n
And a memory of his old one.<\/p>\n
There was a stand near his home back in Turkey that had the best chicken shawarma. It was so delicious, but unaffordable for him, so only reserved for a special occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t have it all the time,\u201d he says. It was maybe three, four Turkish Lira. \u201cIt was really hard to get that money and go eat that food,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The rare times he had it, he savored each bite. He\u2019d think of it when walking past it, wishing he could have it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard, you know?\u201d he says. \u201cAnd now I can have all the food in the world. People can make it for me. I have a chef. \u2026 When you get more professional \u2026 life just gets better \u2026 Everything getting easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remembering, however, keeps him humble. Keeps him grounded. Motivated. Just because you leave one place doesn\u2019t mean it ever leaves you. His upbringing, his joys, his struggles, remind him why he\u2019s doing all of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always know where I come from,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Who<\/em> he comes from.<\/p>\n\u201cI will never give (my parents) any reason to tell me like, get humbled \u2026 I would never give a reason like that because I have to know where I come from.\u201d<\/p>\n
He talks to his family daily, especially his dad. His dad often tells him he is proud of him. That people back home are, too. And then \u015eeng\u00fcn realizes his purpose is bigger than himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gotta do this for everybody,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
His family is in town the same week as the Philadelphia game, staying with him. He\u2019s ecstatic that they are here. But he knows it is also temporary. After the trip is over, they will go home. And some part of him will feel like the 12-year-old who had to leave them. The now pro who feels, in a sense, as if he is always leaving them, no matter how frequently they speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s like, some, you know, some broke thing inside of me somewhere, is always missing them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
It is his wound and his why; the force that keeps him moving.<\/p>\n\n
The night before the flight to Philadelphia, he and his brother were talking late into the night in Houston. It was around 1 a.m. The Rockets had just beaten San Antonio, and \u015eeng\u00fcn nearly had a triple-double: 20 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. His adrenaline was still pumping.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t sleeping,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He and his brother were hanging out on the balcony in \u015eeng\u00fcn\u2019s home. Somewhere in the conversation, looking out to the deep, dark night, they both had a similar feeling. They looked at each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven this balcony is bigger than where we grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n
They realized how far they had come. How far Alperen had taken them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis balcony,\u201d he says, \u201cis wider, and longer wise, if you try to make a house \u2014 it can be our old house, you feel me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The more they shared memories, the more it seemed as if they were back in the old house. Their parents had slept in the kitchen. The old house had just \u201cone kind of little living room,\u201d he says. \u201cThat was where me and my brother used to sleep.\u201d His sister later had her own room, as the only other woman in the family besides their mom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Turkey, it is different compared to America,\u201d he says. \u201cYou stay in small apartments or small houses, so you used to live in the living room.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, he often misses his mother\u2019s cooking \u2014 especially her Dolma. And her cake. No matter how many times he tries to find the dishes elsewhere, including the several Turkish spots he relied on his first few years in the league, no one ever made them like Anne<\/em> (an-neh). Mom. She could write down the exact recipes for him, and they still wouldn\u2019t be as good. \u201cMom\u2019s food, everybody will love it, and we grew up eating those foods,\u201d he says. \u201cYou always miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/02\/07204000\/GettyImages-2257841813.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n
\n \u015eeng\u00fcn struggled to adapt to the NBA so far from his family. \u201cMy first two years, I was barely talking English,\u201d he says. (Logan Riely \/ NBAE via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMissing<\/em>. It\u2019s a feeling that tugs at him constantly. It\u2019s a feeling that he has felt for as long as he can remember.<\/p>\n\u201cI was away from them, almost, like half of my life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Even before leaving at age 12, there were days he didn\u2019t see his father. He was working long hours. \u201cI was with my mom all the time,\u201d he says. But whenever his father came home, he told \u015eeng\u00fcn how proud he was of him. How he had a bright future.<\/p>\n
Young \u015eeng\u00fcn would beam, wanting badly to make his father proud. He\u2019d envision his dad at future professional games, cheering him on. His dad also coached him in his early years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad was pushing me all the time,\u201d he says. And he wasn\u2019t afraid to tell his son to pick things up. \u201cEven if I play bad,\u201d \u015eeng\u00fcn says, \u201che curse my ass out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u015eeng\u00fcn would go to internet cafes and search YouTube for basketball highlights, watching clips of LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Studying. Dreaming. Praying. He fell in love with the game. And he clung tighter to his family. He was always aware of what they didn\u2019t have, but that wasn\u2019t his focus.<\/p>\n
His mind was on the abundance of what he did<\/em> have:<\/p>\nLove.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot together,\u201d he says of his family. \u201cWe are still happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being with them, then and now, is his definition of success. Of why life is worth living.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I am with my family, I\u2019m always happy,\u201d he says. \u201cEven now, I have all the money in the world, but I still think I can make so much more money. I can work for it, and I can just give them a better and better life, and never think of money ever again in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u015eeng\u00fcn starred on the youth team at 12, but was constantly tested. \u201cThe coach,\u201d he says, (was a) really tough guy. He was always tough on me.\u201d That meant playing hurt no matter what. \u201cI was working with broke ribs. You know, like twisted ankles. Everything. He was just always coaching me hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
He felt his coach had his best interests at heart, because he cared for his family, too. He knew how lonely, how isolated, \u015eeng\u00fcn felt, away from his friends and family in pursuit of his basketball dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat stuff helped me growing up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The tough coaching style on the floor would also help him adapt to the NBA years later, too: \u201cNBA players, like, we are not normal people, you know? We have to get through a lot of stuff,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Certainly, he\u2019s experienced that during this playoff series with the Lakers, where the chatter about him online has called him anything from a disappointment to a complete failure. Even his biggest supporters are questioning his abilities. The lessons he learned with his early Turkish coaches about staying calm through adversity have stayed with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re doing this business, you\u2019ve got to be really strong mentally, because it\u2019s not easy,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of stuff going on on the court. You don\u2019t want to lose. You lose. There\u2019s a lot of games, you can have a bad game. And it\u2019s social media. Even if you say you don\u2019t care, you care at some point. So stuff like that, I think, always make me a stronger person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u015eeng\u00fcn turned pro at 16 for a team called Banvit. He played with them until he was 18, before signing with the Turkish club, Be\u015fiktas. \u201cI was like, always, \u2018I\u2019m going to be in the top level,\u2019\u201d he says, \u201cSo my dad can say, \u2018My son did this,\u2019 you know? And that was always my goal \u2014 and still is my goal. I want to be one of the greatest, and hopefully my dad can see those days with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was named MVP of the Turkish Super League, one of the top leagues in Europe, at 18. The better he became, the more he realized he could have a future outside of his homeland. Scouts flooded the stands, and he\u2019d say to himself:<\/p>\n
I can do more. I can do more.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cThis just was making me work harder,\u201d \u015eeng\u00fcn says.<\/p>\n
He was drafted by the Thunder shortly thereafter in the 2021 NBA Draft, 16th overall. His draft rights were traded to the Rockets. He knew he\u2019d have to work even harder. The toughest part of his NBA journey, at first, he says, was the language barrier at first.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first two years, I was barely talking English,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/25170541\/GettyImages-1331394278.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n
\n \u015eeng\u00fcn was drafted 16th overall and would land in Houston, where he developed into a two-time All-Star. (Arturo Holmes \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThat was difficult, not just for obvious reasons, but because he\u2019s an outgoing person. He wanted to connect with his teammates. The more he mastered English, the more he found his way on the floor, too. And the tough tactics of his Turkish coaches helped him adapt to the NBA game, too. \u201cWhen Ime came,\u201d he says, \u201cI\u2019m pushing myself every second. Defense, rebounding, scoring, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
He feels he\u2019s found a home with the organization, in this city, which is one of the most diverse in the country. \u201cI love Houston,\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t think of living somewhere else in the U.S. Even people (are) asking me, \u2018Where would you live after you\u2019re retired?\u2019 I still say sometimes it depends on my career, but I love to say Houston \u2026 It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wants to get to the point where he\u2019s doing something, and in 20 years, someone will say: \u201cThat\u2019s a \u015eeng\u00fcn move.\u201d \u201c[I want] to add different moves every year,\u201d he says. \u201cGet better and better. That\u2019s my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thinks back to the internet cafes, the people he saw on highlight reels on YouTube. LeBron James. Someone he now has to guard from time to time in this playoff series. And it hits him, with stunning clarity, that some kid in Turkey right now is watching his highlights, studying his moves.<\/p>\n
Dreaming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He remembers his coach\u2019s words, back when he was just 12 years old. Back when he was growing up in Giresun, Turkey, a historic city on Turkey\u2019s Black Sea coast. \u201cYou got to be the one.\u201d Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn was only a middle-schooler, but he realized he had to quickly grow up. Become the man his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow2JLhCw:productID":"","_gspb_post_css":"","maa_idioma":"","maa_pais":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[24955,30644,26090,12405,31422,7150,24956,9430],"class_list":["post-116371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ubirata","tag-alperen","tag-carried","tag-carry","tag-dreams","tag-familys","tag-rockets","tag-sengun","tag-years"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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