Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz made some waves on Tuesday when asked about his Turkish EuroBasket teammate Alperen Şengün. He specifically mentioned that he thought that Alperen Şengün was now the best big man he had ever played with, specifically bringing up that he previously thought it was Joel Embiid.
Korkmaz notably spent all of his seven years in the NBA with Embiid and the Sixers. Korkmaz saw every version of Embiid through his career, from the young Embiid to the truly dominant MVP caliber season, and everything in between.
While this may come off as shocking and a slight dig at the star center, in reality, Korkmaz was probably just excited for the young Şengün, who, alongside him, Shane Larkin, and Adem Bona, was able to come away with a win against Poland in the EuroBasket Quarterfinals.
It is also important to note that it has been a few years since Korkmaz’s departure from the Sixers and the NBA as a whole. In his final NBA season, the player lovingly nicknamed “Steph Turkey,” he averaged 2.5 points per game, appearing in only 35 games before he was eventually traded to and cut by the Indiana Pacers.
While an NBA return may still be in the mix for the Turkish three-point sniper, it is unlikely. Still, he is contributing as one of the veteran leaders for a Turkish EuroBasket team that has impressed so far in EuroBasket. Korkmaz has averaged 7.7 points in the seven games played so far.
This isn’t to undervalue what Şengün is doing either. He has averaged 21.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 7.1 assists a night for Turkey. At the end of the day, though, Şengün simply isn’t an MVP-caliber center who’s capable of averaging 30+ points a night for three straight seasons like former league MVP Joel Embiid.
