Philadelphia 76ers: Furkan Korkmaz shoots his way to a win in Chicago

When the Philadelphia 76ers signed Furkan Korkmaz to a three-year, $15 million extension not too long after being bounced from the playoffs by the Atlanta Hawks, it felt like a steal.

Profitx projected that Korkmaz deserved a deal worth $9 million a year, and while others, like yours truly, declared the former first-round pick a borderline must re-sign after stepping up his game during the postseason coming off the bench.

If that was the player who returned to the City of Brotherly Love for his fifth professional season, a 3-and-D wing who averaged 9.5 points while hitting 39 percent of his 3-pointers, I’m sure Daryl Morey would be more than happy with his investment, but that hasn’t been the case.

No, in a very welcomed development, Korkmaz has transformed himself into an incredibly effective two-way player who can dish, drive, and score points from anywhere in the halfcourt.

And in Chicago, down about half of their active roster, the Philadelphia 76ers got a premier showing from the player now affectionately known as the “Turkish Delight” to extend their win streak to six and secure Doc Rivers his 1,000th career win.

The Philadelphia 76ers rode Korkmaz’s shot to a spoiler victory in Chicago.

If Furkan Korkmaz goes 7-9 from beyond the arc, the Philadelphia 76ers will probably secure a W.

Is that unique to Kork? No. If Joel Embiid, Seth Curry, or even Tyrese Maxey got the Philadelphia 76ers 21 points from 3-point range, it would likely heavily affect the outcome of a game, but the Sixers needed this one a lot more than others due to the sheer lack of depth they had going into their second bout against the Chicago Bulls in three games.

I mean, we’re talking a game without Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Matisse Thybulle, Isaiah Joe, Grant Riller, and Ben Simmons where Paul Reed had to start at power forward for goodness sake, if you chalked this one up as a loss, few would fault you.

And yet, the team didn’t lose, largely because Furkan Korkmaz brought the energy in his first game back since a wrist injury sidelined him against the Detroit Pistons in the game prior.

Whether scoring nine points in a little over three minutes to put the Sixers up one at the end of the first, or his 11 point performance in the final frame of the game – the Furk quarter, if you will – Korkmaz kept the shots flying and the offense moving versus a full-strength Bulls squad that maybe underestimated their undermanned foe just a little bit.

Granted, had the Sixers not made five of their final seven shots in the final four minutes of the game, maybe things would have been different. Maybe the Bulls would have continued to ride their momentum to a commanding win against an Eastern Conference foe, and Monday morning would be loaded up with segments on ESPN asking if Chicago basketball is finally back.

The Sixers played spoiler to that, and as a result, we’ll likely be rewarded with another week of out-of-towners suggesting the team trade Ben Simmons for “70 cents on the dollar” to further fortify the once and current top-seed in the East.

*sigh* the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In games past, the Philadelphia 76ers found great success with Furkan Korkmaz contributing as a driver and a facilitator. Though the sample size is small, Korkmaz is taking and making the most 2 point shots of his career and has doubled his assist total from 2020-21 to 2021-22. But in Game 2 versus the Chicago Bulls, Doc Rivers needed Korkmaz to step up and shoot his shot early and often, which he did to great results. When a role player starts to contribute to winning games in a variety of different ways, eventually they stop being a role player, right?