He was born in Istanbul Turkey to Turkish parents and played basketball in Turkey and for the Turkish youth national team. Yurtseven was selected to the Best Five of the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. He was also invited to play at the Jordan Brand ClassicInternational Game. On March 20, 2015, he played made his EuroLeague debut, in a game against Emporio Armani Milano, scoring 2 points, in 1 minute and 4 seconds of playing time. On October 5, 2015, he played against the Brooklyn Nets, at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York. He had 8 points and 7 rebounds, with one block, in 15 minutes and 18 seconds of playing time, in his team's win over the Nets. He would become the youngest player in history at the time, to play in an NBA preseason game, at 17 years old. During an Under-18 youth age competition in Turkey, Yurtseven recorded a double-double, of 91 points, making 34 out of 49 shots, and grabbing 28 rebounds, in a 115-82 win over the youth club of Eylul Basketbol Ihtisas. On February 15, 2016, he left Fenerbahçe, in order to play college basketball, stating that he needed more playing time than he was receiving with Fenerbahçe.
College career
On May 16, it was announced that Yurtseven would be playing college basketball at North Carolina State University. However, due to his previous exposure with playing for Fenerbahçe, in some professional games, the NCAA decided to suspend him for the first nine games of their season, as well as require him to donate $1,000 to a charity of his choosing, in exchange for him to be fully eligible for playing time moving forward. After fulfilling his suspension, he returned to the court on December 15, in a win against Appalachian State University. On March 14, 2017, Yurtseven would test out his stock for the 2017 NBA draft, leaving open the possibility that he would return to North Carolina State for his sophomore season. After trying out for the 2017 NBA Draft Combine, his father announced he'd be going back to North Carolina State for his sophomore year. During his sophomore year of college, he'd improve his points per game averages from 4.4 points per game, to over 14 points per game. This would let him earn All-ACC Third Team honors, for his considerable and significant improvement. On March 21, 2018, Yurtseven would test out going pro once again, for the 2018 NBA draft. However, even if he doesn't go pro, he confirmed that he would not return to North Carolina State, and would instead request a transfer to a different university. On April 16, 2018, Yurtseven announced he would transfer to Georgetown. He became eligible to play for the Hoyas starting in the 2019–20 season and will have two years of eligibility remaining. Yurtseven had 20 points in his debut for Georgetown, a 81–68 win over Mount St. Mary's. He averaged 15.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game but missed seven games with an ankle injury. On April 28, 2020, he announced that he was entering the 2020 NBA draft and was not returning to Georgetown.
