Philadelphia 76ers: Furkan Korkmaz has touched down

The third first-round pick from the 2016 draft is now in Philadelphia.

That’s right, Furkan Korkmaz is in town after finishing his season with Banvit in the Turkish league. Korkmaz had a good year overseas winning the Turkish Cup and winning the best young player award from the Champions League. What’s most intriguing about Korkmaz is that he shot the three at almost a 40 percent clip for Banvit in league play and that rose to 50 percent in Champions League. Those type of numbers from a 19-year-old raise some eyebrows especially for a team that is lacking on three point shooters.

There were rumors in May that Korkmaz is looking to join the Philadelphia 76ers this season but there are a few hurdles to get past first. He has a buyout clause of 2 million dollars to leave Anadolu Efes before his contract is up next season.

This is more than the $650,000 that NBA teams are allowed to pay towards that balance. Korkmaz would be required to front the rest of the buyout himself if he’d like to join the Philadelphia 76ers early. He could pay the buyout in installments but it’s a tall task for someone who would only make a shade over a million dollars in their NBA contract.

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This doesn’t even address the roster issues that the Philadelphia 76ers are about to run into with the upcoming NBA Draft. The team has five picks while they already have 14 guys under contract for next season. They’ll likely keep at least two draft picks bringing that number to 16. Korkmaz coming to Philadelphia would raise that number to 17. This is before making any new additions to the team.

While the Sixers aren’t expected to be particularly active in free agency this would really hamstring the team in the open market. There are moves that can be made to trim the fat on the roster but Korkmaz will likely find himself in a battle with Nik Stauskas for a roster spot if he comes to the NBA.

It’d be tough because the team knows what they are getting from Stauskas while Korkmaz is an unknown in the game at the moment. No one knows how he will adjust to the physicality of the NBA game as well as the rule differences between the Euro League and the NBA. But we do know that he is currently in Philadelphia.

Korkmaz is scheduled to meet with the media on Monday after working out with the team this week.

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This is likely a chance for the Philadelphia 76ers to get a chance to look at Korkmaz in action. It will give him a taste of how things work with the team while also giving coaches a chance to develop a plan for him moving forward. But, stranger things have happened.