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Turkish NBA star Alperen Sengun has been named the league’s “most overrated” player in an anonymous player poll published by The Athletic. However, the result has drawn criticism because the ranking was based on only 10 votes.
The finding placed one of Türkiye’s most prominent basketball exports at the center of a familiar NBA debate over anonymous player polls, reputation, and how much weight should be given to a label that can travel faster than the numbers behind it.
The Athletic said its writers surveyed 161 NBA players from late February to early April for its 2026 Anonymous NBA Player Poll, covering questions about individual awards, player reputation, coaching, and wider league issues. The outlet said players were granted anonymity so they could answer honestly “without fear of reprisals from opponents, teammates or fans.”
Yet the “most overrated” category was one of the questions players were least willing to answer. Only 81 players gave a response, and Sengun finished first with 10 votes.
That means the top result did not reflect a majority view across the survey group.
Alperen Sengun, 23, earned his second NBA All-Star selection this season and helped lead the Houston Rockets to the fifth seed in the Western Conference, one of the league’s toughest conferences.
According to The Athletic’s poll article, he averaged 20.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game, while also recording four triple-doubles.
The Athletic said skepticism from some players may relate partly to his defensive reputation. One anonymous player who voted for Sengun said, “He's crying every play. He's talented, but, dude, just play hard.”
The article also noted, however, that Houston finished the season sixth in defensive rating, helped by strong perimeter defenders such as Amen Thompson and Tari Eason.
Sengun’s Rockets were eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, meaning he will not have the kind of immediate postseason response that Tyrese Haliburton produced last year.
Haliburton topped the same “most overrated” category in The Athletic’s previous player poll, then led the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals.
The result quickly drew criticism on social media, especially from users who focused on the small number of votes behind the ranking.
Under The Athletic’s social media post, one commenter called the anonymous “overrated” poll a “hit piece,” saying that publishing it “without context” risked damaging a young player’s reputation “for clicks.”
Another commenter posted a screenshot referring to the 10-vote detail and called the framing “clickbait nonsense.”
The criticism did not only come from Sengun supporters. One commenter said they would have placed Rudy Gobert first in the “most underrated” discussion instead, while another argued that Tyler Herro and Jamal Murray should have ranked near the top of the overrated category.
The wider issue is not whether NBA players should be asked uncomfortable questions. Anonymous polls can reveal how players view the league beyond public relations language. But in this case, the most shareable label, “most overrated,” depends on a limited sample from a question that nearly half of the surveyed players avoided.
The Athletic itself acknowledged the sensitivity of the category. One player who declined to answer said he had previously chosen Haliburton as most overrated before watching him deliver a major playoff run.
“I was part of the group that said Tyrese Haliburton for most overrated, and what he did in the playoffs last year was unreal,” the player said. “So I'm not saying. We have a lot of really good players in this league.”
Another player refused to take part in the question, saying, “That’s one I would put my name on. I don’t want to crush a guy silently. I ain’t that type of guy.”
The same poll named Boston Celtics guard Derrick White and Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson as the league’s most underrated players.
Among coaches, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was named the most impressive current coach outside a player’s own team, after Boston finished 56-26 despite entering the season with lower expectations because of Jayson Tatum’s injury absence.
San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was voted the NBA’s best defensive player, receiving 41.1% of the vote. The Athletic noted that he led the league in blocks with 3.1 per game and helped the Spurs finish with a 62-20 record.
However, for Turkish readers, the main headline is Sengun. The poll placed him at the top of a damaging category, but the details behind the result are essential: 10 anonymous votes, 81 responses to the question, and a young All-Star whose reputation is still being shaped in real time.
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