Rockets Alperen Sengun Considered a Lock for the All-Star Team

Alperen Sengun has been one of the league's top 15 players this season. Well-renowned NBA analysts Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe both have him as a top-15 player on The Ringer's Top 100 list and the masses would probably agree.

This season, at least.

He's been the Houston Rockets' offensive fulcrum and lynchpin in the halfcourt, leading the Rockets with seven assists.

(His 3.4 turnovers also lead the team).

He's also averaging 23 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.5 stocks, 49.4 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from three.

Sengun has played a large part in Houston's top-ranked offensive rebounding crew, averaging three offensive boards per contest, which ranks 13th in the league.

For his efforts, the Houston Rockets center has been named a lock for this year's All-Star game (which will be held in Los Angeles on February 15th).

At least, according to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports and Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.

Mannix started, by naming his guarantees for the All-Star game, which included the Rockets big man.

"I've got Alperen Sengun as a lock. He's having an unbelievable year."

Mannix also named Sengun's Houston Rockets teammate Kevin Durant as a lock, in addition to Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren, followed by Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic (who Sengun has commonly been compared to), Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama.

Sengun got off to a scorching start from long-range, which was a big focus of his over the summer. He spent a considerable amount of time working on that part of his game.

But even with the regression to the mean, he's still having a career year as an outside shooter, especially when factoring in his volume.

Sengun has drawn the Rockets' looks in the clutch and/or crunch time, to the chagrin of many in the Rockets fanbase, who would like more of a balanced attack between the Rockets center and Kevin Durant.

If there is an area of improvement and/or criticism for Sengun, it's been his foul shooting.

73 percent from the charity stripe is a career-best for him, however he missed four foul shots against the New Orleans Pelicans -- a game that Houston lost.

The game could've been sealed by Sengun at the line.

Granted, this doesn't take away from Sengun being a lock for the All-Star game, which he should be, without a doubt.