Ahead of the 2025-26 season, several NBA players are competing with their home countries in EuroBasket 2025. The playoffs of the tournament are currently underway.
Recently, Turkey beat Poland to advance to the semi-finals. Their team is led by Houston Rockets all-star center Alperen Sengun. He had a dominant performance vs. Poland, finishing with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. It’s not the first time Sengun has recorded a triple-double, but it was a historic one. At 23 years old, Alperen Sengun became the youngest player in EuroBasket history to record a triple-double.
Alperen Sengun is the youngest player in EuroBasket history to record a triple-double
For the EuroBasket 2025 tournament, Turkey was in Group A. It also featured Serbia, Latvia, Portugal, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. They went undefeated in group play. Beating a strong team like Serbia that features top-NBA talent like Nikola Jokic. In the round of 16, Turkey defeated Sweden. Through their first six games, Alperen Sengun is averaging 22.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 6.7 assists. He has far and away been Turkey’s top player.
In the quarter-finals vs. Poland, Sengun had his best performance yet in EuroBasket. He finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 91-77 win. Alperen Sengun became the youngest player in EuroBasket history to record a triple-double. He joins Luka Doncic as the second player to record a triple-double in EuroBasket.
Additionally, it’s the first time since 1995 that multiple players have recorded a triple-double in the same EuroBasket tournament. Before Sengun’s triple-double vs. Poland, only four players had recorded a triple-double in EuroBasket. The list incldues Luka Doncic, Mateusz Ponitka, Andrei Mandache, an Tony Kukoc.
Alperen Sengun and his Turkish teammates are waiting for Lithuania and Greece to play. Once that game is decided, they will play the winner of that game this Friday, September 12. The Greeks have Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo on their roster. He would be a difficult matchup for Sengun and Turkey.