76ers prospect Furkan Korkmaz transferring clubs in Turkey
Philadelphia 76ers draft-and-stash prospect Furkan Korkmaz will be transferring clubs, per sources in Turkey. The No. 26 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft has spent the last three seasons playing for Anadolu Efes in Istanbul, but will now reportedly be heading to Izmir, reportedly to play for Pinar Karsiyaka.
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Korkmaz, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard, has averaged 5.7 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game in 12 contests for Efes so far this season. The young 3-point ace has played well in his limited minutes, but a deep backcourt has kept him buried in the rotation. Korkmaz has only played in two Euroleague contests this season, and he’s averaged just 11.7 minutes per games this year. The emergence of fellow draft-and-stash player Cedi Osman has limited his playing time, and with Efes signing D-League veteran Brandon Paul to replace Bryce Cotton, who left for personal reasons, the writing appeared on the wall that Korkmaz was never going to crack into the rotation this year for the Turkish League leaders.
The move to Karsiyaka should benefit all parties. This is a loan, meaning that Efes retains control over Korkmaz’s European rights. But for Korkmaz, it is an opportunity for more playing time. Karsiyaka is a small step down from Efes — still a solid club in Turkey, but it will put him in the FIBA Champions League, a more reasonable competition level for Korkmaz at this stage. Karsiyaka is a solid 3-point shooting team, who already has former Texas swingman J’Covan Brown and Polish guard Mateusz Ponitka on the roster. But they’ve lacked a real sharpshooter, which Korkmaz can be, and this allows them to move Muhammed Baygul into more of a bench role.
Obviously, the Sixers also win here, because this allows them to evaluate him against real competition in more minutes, and with Karsiyaka looking like they’ll get through to the playoffs of the FIBA Champions League, they should get some good looks at him. For a team that has had shooting issues for as long as Philadelphia has, Korkmaz is definitely a player they want to consider bringing over in 2017, and this will help them evaluate whether he can make that transition next summer.