Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo announced Tuesday that the team has signed guard-forward Furkan Korkmaz.
“We are happy to have Furkan Korkmaz join us in Philadelphia this year where we feel he will be best positioned to develop physically and acclimate to the NBA game,” Colangelo said. “Furkan is another talented young player that we are excited to have in our program.”
The Sixers selected Korkmaz with the 26th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Korkmaz spent the 2016-17 season with Banvit (Turkey) on loan from Anadolu Efes, helping Banvit win the team’s first Turkish Cup in February. In 21 games, the 19-year-old averaged 11 points and four rebounds while shooting 49 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “terms of the deal were not announced, but Korkmaz was slotted to make $1.2 million this season. However, the Sixers could have paid him 20 percent more than that, and might have done so considering Korkmaz ‘s buyout was for $2 million. NBA teams are permitted to contribute only $675,000 to buyouts.”
Korkmaz also helped Banvit reached its first Basketball Champions League Final. He was later named the Basketball Champions League “Best Young Player” after averaging 11 points and five rebounds while shooting 50 percent from three-point range in eight BCL games.
In 2015-16, Korkmaz played with current Sixers forward Dario Saric with Anadolu Efes. In 37 games, Korkmaz averaged five points while shooting 48 percent from the field.
A native of Istanbul, Korkmaz has been named a Turkish Basketball Super League All-Star three times and is a two-time Turkish Cup champion. He’s represented his home country of Turkey in international play in multiple competitions, earning a gold medal at the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and silver at the same event in 2015.
