Entering Thursday, Alperen Sengun is the leader of a much-improved Houston Rockets team (22-25) in points (21.9), rebounds (9.2) and shooting percentage (54.1%) on a per-game basis. But at least for now, that won’t be enough to earn 2024 NBA All-Star honors.
Sengun, 21, wasn’t among the seven Western Conference reserves announced on Thursday night. His closest frontcourt competitors to make the team were Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves and Anthony Davis of the Lakers, and both have much more experience.
While Sengun finished No. 5 overall among West frontcourt players (and well ahead of Towns) in fan voting, fan votes were only considered in determining All-Star starters. In contrast, reserves were solely determined by voting ballots from each team’s coaching staff.
With his big-man competitors having longer NBA track records and playing for teams with better win-loss records, that may have given them more exposure to coaches around the league. Keep in mind, Sengun is in just his third season, and the Rockets have played only one game all season on national television.
Sengun could potentially be added to the West All-Star team at a later date, should there be an injury withdrawal or two. The game is scheduled to take place on Sunday, Feb. 18 in Indianapolis.
For now, here’s how media members and fans following the Rockets responded to Thursday’s disappointing news on social media.
All-Star reaction to Alperen Sengun missing out
2024 NBA West All-Star reserves: Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Stephen Curry, Paul George, Karl-Anthony Towns.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 2, 2024
S/O to Ernie Johnson for mentioning Alperen Sengun as one of the players who’s next in line to get an All-Star nod.
— Matthew Cardenas (@Matt__Card) February 2, 2024
Domantas Sabonis and Alperen Sengun weren’t selected as All-Star subs! 😳😳😳@Dsabonis11 this season:
— 20/13/8
— 1st in double-doubles
— 2nd in triple-doubles
— 1st in rebounds
— 6th in assistsHim and @alperennsengun are snubbed…#nba #zalgiris #besiktas #kings #rockets pic.twitter.com/h5arZGhWbo
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) February 2, 2024
Who’s the biggest 2024 All-Star snub?
Trae Young
Domantas Sabonis
De’Aaron Fox
James Harden
Rudy Gobert
Alperen Sengun
Kristaps Porzingis
Wemby pic.twitter.com/20uN6a2ePV— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) February 2, 2024
Four glaring mistakes in the all-star reserves, two from each conference.
Sengun and Sabonis should be replacing KAT and PG13, whilst Trae and Barnes should be replacing Maxey and Banchero.
— JS 🫨 (@DidakDT) February 2, 2024
Look at this list and then look at the seasons that Fox, Sabonis, Gobert, Markkanen, Sengun, Zion, and Ingram are having.
Expand the All-Star rosters to 15 please. https://t.co/dBniQaKXyb
— Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) February 2, 2024
Pelicans coach Willie Green on Alperen Sengun: "He's playing at an All-Star level. He's a handful. Everybody knows it."
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) January 31, 2024
Alperen Sengun has played well enough this season to be an All-Star…Don’t let these national guys fool you…Half of them don’t even watch the games…#Sarge
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) January 31, 2024
Rockets' Alperen Şengün not selected for NBA All-Star roster https://t.co/VN5DICWsJk via @houstonchron
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 2, 2024
Trae and Sengun the biggest All- Star snubs https://t.co/cYb9VgKm0O
— Sengoat 🐐 (@Sengoat28) February 2, 2024
