Alperen Şengün is officially an NBA All-Star after the 22-year-old big man was named by the league’s coaches as a Western Conference reserve Thursday night.

This is Şengün’s first selection and the Rockets’ first All-Star since James Harden and Russell Westbrook in 2020. Şengün joins Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Yao Ming as the only Rockets players 22 or younger to receive the honor.

“He’s obviously a very skilled player but he’s a matchup nightmare for guys,” said Rockets coach Ime Udoka after the selection. “He can kind of score and play everywhere all over the court. Just his competitiveness in general has been really good. But he’s an unselfish guy as well. Understanding it’s not going to be his night every night, teams try to take him out and (he) kind of (becomes) an initiator and hub down there to get everybody else involved. That’s the beauty of him. He can make you pay in more than one way.”

Going into the night, it was touch and go whether Şengün would make it and when you broke it down, you knew it would come down to Şengün or Domantas Sabonis. Truthfully, there was going to be a snub either way. Sabonis has better and more efficient stats but the Rockets are 32-14, the third-best record in the league. The Rockets not having an All-Star would have been a crime, so there was going to be criticism either way.

Sengun isn’t having his most efficient offensive season (54.0% true shooting), which is a surprise, but he has put in a lot of work to fit into a top-tier defense and been very key on the boards, leading the team with 10.4 caroms a night. Rebounding has been an underappreciated part of Houston’s success. To highlight that, he had 29 double-doubles last season in 63 games and he already has 28 of them in 46 games this season.

Alpi and Jalen Green are both top-25 in the NBA in drawing double teams this season, which also is a big part of how the Rockets rack up wins. Şengün’s vision, finding cutters and three-point shooters, has been instrumental as well.

So enjoy it, Houston. It’s a huge honor and hopefully it’s a sign of bigger things to come for Sengun and the Rockets.

Just before the start of the regular season, the Houston Rockets signed Jalen Green to a three-year, $105.3 million extension and Alperen Sengun to a five-year, $185 million extension, locking up two key pieces of their rebuild. These extensions eliminated any meaningful salary cap room for Houston in the summer of 2025. However, since the NBA is trending away from key players changing teams via free agency (recent examples such as Paul George and the Rockets’ own Fred VanVleet notwithstanding), Rafael Stone and his team likely viewed the extensions as worth the risk.

The Rockets have positioned themselves as one of the league’s most interesting trade teams, as they boast a unique combination of good young players, premium future draft picks, and expiring salaries. But signing Green and Sengun to those extensions made trading each of those players this season significantly more difficult.

Article VII, Section 8(g) of the 2023 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement – you know the one! – is more commonly known as the Poison Pill Provision, which relates to the trade treatment of players recently signed to rookie scale extensions. If a recently extended player is traded prior to the July 1 in which the extension kicks in, then while the player’s outgoing salary would be the same as his then current cap figure, the player’s incoming salary to the acquiring team would instead be the *average* of the player’s then current salary and all salaries during the extension. This makes any trade made under the Poison Pill Provisions exceedingly difficult.

Using Green and Sengun as examples, their respective outgoing and incoming salaries would be:

Jalen Green
Outgoing Salary for Houston: $12.5 million
Incoming Salary for Acquiring Team: $29.5 million

Alperen Sengun
Outgoing Salary for Houston: $5.4 million
Incoming Salary for Acquiring Team: $31.7 million

These vast discrepancies in outgoing and incoming salary treatment make Green and Sengun very difficult to trade, as most NBA trades must fall within salary-matching rules. While there are possible trade scenarios involving numerous players and salaries that could allow for Green or Sengun to be traded, most of those scenarios are unrealistic and/or would involve three or more teams and the expenditure of additional assets to get those additional teams to take on salaries.

The Rockets don’t seem to have much desire to move either Green or Sengun right now. However, if they do decide to move either of them, it would most likely not be until next July, when the Poison Pill Provision is no longer applicable and those players can be traded at their new extension salaries.

It’s officially NBA Draft Week!

The weeks of speculation are coming to an end as we’ve just about arrived at the 2024 NBA Draft. The Rockets hold picks #3 and #44 and could be quite active on the trade market.

Dave Hardisty and David Weiner paired up on the ClutchFans podcast to discuss the options before the Houston Rockets as they approach the June 26th NBA Draft. Is it really down to Donovan Clingan and Reed Sheppard as options? The pair also discuss trade-down options and whether Devin Carter could be intriguing to Ime Udoka. And are the Rockets a darkhorse for a Paul George trade?

The podcast premieres at 8:00am CT! Come join us!

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The offseason is now underway.

The forecast looks good for the Houston Rockets, but… there’s pressure as well this offseason because there are a handful of other West teams that might have rosier futures. Ime Udoka wants to win and win big. As we are about five weeks away from the NBA Draft, what are the Rockets looking to do this summer?

David Weiner joined Dave Hardisty on the ClutchFans podcast to discuss the Rockets shockingly landing the #3 pick and their options in this draft, including Reed Sheppard, Donovan Clingan, Zaccharie Risacher, Stephon Castle, Matas Buzelis and others. They also discuss the possibility of some big game hunting in Houston.

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The Houston Rockets already made one deal, acquiring center Steven Adams from Memphis for a handful of second-round picks, but we still have several days left before this Thursday’s NBA Trade Deadline.

Are more deals on the way?

Rumors of interest in Mikal Bridges have swirled, with the Rockets holding precious (and unprotected) first-round picks from Brooklyn. They also could use some help inside this season, which Adams can not provide. Shooting is always in demand.

David Weiner joined Dave Hardisty on the ClutchFans podcast to discuss the Adams trade, its impact on the Rockets in 2024-25 and beyond, the Mikal Bridges rumors, the Brooklyn picks, other trade possibilities and options for Rafael Stone moving forward. Also discussed is the play of Houston’s core 6 prospects: Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason and Jalen Green.

CLUTCHFANS PODCAST: SPOTIFY | APPLE