Controversial statements from Alperen Şengün about Fenerbahçe: It would have been the biggest mistake of my life.

Turkish national basketball player Alperen Şengün, who plays for the NBA team Houston Rockets, answered Fatih Altaylı's questions. Şengün made striking statements about his career at Beşiktaş, the transfer offer he received from Fenerbahçe, and his NBA days.

Alperen Şengün's statements are as follows;

"MY IDOL WAS SEMİH ERDEN"

"When I was young, I used to watch a lot of games but I didn't have an idol. I really liked Semih Erden, he dominated every aspect of the game. I can say that he was my idol back then, his dunks were very impressive."

"I WAS VERY CAREFUL AT BEŞİKTAŞ"

I always had a feeling that I would go to the NBA. You don't get an offer from the NBA, there is no such thing as an offer like that. When I was at Beşiktaş, there was no one ahead of me, I was going to play. I was very careful about what I ate and my training. They were eating hamburgers and sweets, but I wasn't. I had a little extra weight, but I lost a lot of weight. In the end, I had a great season.

"GOING TO FENERBAHÇE WOULD BE A MISTAKE"

There were talks about the NBA in the middle of the season at Beşiktaş. I said, 'I will go no matter what' and I went. Then I received an offer from Fenerbahçe. In Turkey, the club asks the player, 'Do you want to go?' If I didn't want to go, I wouldn't go. Fenerbahçe made a very high offer to me. We were playing for 30 thousand TL per month at that time, which was nothing for Istanbul, I had brought my family here. Fenerbahçe wanted me in the middle of the season, but I said, 'I don't want to, I won't go.' If I had gone to Fenerbahçe, they would have given me a lot of money, but when I received an offer from the NBA while I was at Beşiktaş, I had the right to go for free, Fenerbahçe wouldn't block my way, but they would ask for a significant amount of money for the NBA. For example, if Fenerbahçe asked for 3 million dollars, the NBA would pay 800 thousand, and you would pay the rest. If I had gone, it would have been a mistake.

"I WAS VERY STRESSED DURING THE DRAFT"

I didn't want to go to Fenerbahçe and play for 15 minutes after playing 30 minutes at Beşiktaş. Towards the end of the season, NBA scout teams were coming to watch all my practices. I had great practices everywhere, but I had a very bad practice in Orlando, where I wanted to go the most, because I was very tired. I thought I would be selected in the top 10 because I had a great season. There was no problem in my past. The 13th and 14th picks were announced and my name still wasn't called. I started to get stressed sitting at the draft table and started saying, 'I will return to Turkey!' Then Oklahoma selected me at 16 and traded me to Houston. I'm glad I went there, there are many Turks there. I heard that Oklahoma is a very boring place.

"OBRADOVIC WOULDN'T WORK IN THE NBA"

European coaches are like 'crazy'. There is no such thing in the NBA. They can't yell at LeBron or Curry and say, 'Who do you think you are?' In the NBA, the players are stronger. Obradovic wouldn't work in the NBA, the players wouldn't tolerate him there. He can't do what he does here.

"I DON'T WANT TO RETURN TO TURKEY"

I don't want to return to Turkey. If God allows, I want to end my basketball career in the NBA. There may be injuries, that's different. I don't want to return to Turkey, to be honest, I'm only here in the summers. I don't want to be here during the season. I quickly adapted to the culture there. One of the reasons I learned English here is that Turkish people like to make fun of others. Make a mistake, and they will laugh immediately. I learned this in America, I was hesitant. When you speak incorrectly in America, they applaud you, I'm trying because of that."