Nikola Jokic Outshined in Serbia’s EuroBasket Loss By Rival NBA Center

EuroBasket is in full swing, and some of the NBA’s top players are competing for their home countries. The headline names are obviously Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the tournament is littered with great European NBA talent. 

When stars like Jokic or Doncic are playing in any of these games against other teams, they are expected to be the best player on the floor. This, however, wasn’t the case when Serbia and Turkey faced off on Wednesday. 

Serbia was upset by Turkey in a nailbiter that came down to a few possessions. As always, Jokic was incredible. He scored 22 points, had nine rebounds, and four assists. He also shot 10/16 from the field. 

While not a mind-blowing stat line from Jokic, this is still pretty impressive. Not impressive enough to defeat Turkey. 

One big reason for that was the play of another NBA star, Alperen Sengun. Sengun’s game exploded over the last two seasons, and he is quickly becoming one of the best young centers in the league. Many believe that he plays a lot like a young Jokic and shows similar star potential. 

On Wednesday, that was on full display. Sengun led Turkey to this huge win with a super impressive stat line. Sengun scored 28 points, notched 13 rebounds, and had eight assists in the win. He also was 4-of-7 from deep. 

This is a big moment for both Turkey and Sengun. Beating the Olympic Bronze Medal Serbia in this Eurobasket match is huge. For Sengun, outplaying Jokic is even bigger. Sengun and Jokic may face off in a huge Western Conference playoff battle this season, and games like this should give Sengun tons of confidence. 

The league needs to watch out because Alperen Sengun is on the rise.