OKC Thunder NBA draft profile: Alperen Sengun – big man with huge upside

Pro Comparison:

The players’ analysts cite as potential comparisons are Nikola Vucevic, Domantas Sabonis, Enes Kanter, Al Horford, and Goga Bitadze. Talk about a wide range of players.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

On one hand, there is a belief he could develop into a superstar of Jokic’s ilk. Others see him as a solid offensive contributor and rebounder like Sabonis. That he draws comparison to Horford or Kanter speaks to the confusion of how much he can grow defensively as those two individuals are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

OKC Thunder fit:

Any team who believes Sengun will be even remotely on the same trajectory as Jokic should actively try to draft him. I’ll return to the question of whether he’ll grow into a player of Kanter or Jokic’s ilk. The reason there is room for optimism it will be the latter is his high I.Q. and the energy he exudes.

With his stock rising could Sam Presti shock and take Sengun with the sixth pick? It’s not inconceivable especially because the franchise has a very strong international scouting team.

Presti surprised everyone last year by moving up to grab Aleksej Pokusevski and always keeps his cards close to the vest — so we’ll just have to wait and see. It seems extremely unlikely he’d still be on the board at 16 but if he was OKC would be getting a steal with that pick.

As I highlighted the playoffs have demonstrated why big men are still essential and Sengun has the potential to be special. At 18, the Turkish center fits the OKC Thunder timeline and his assets marry well with the positionless strategy.