The Philadelphia 76ers can’t trade Furkan Korkmaz (literally)

Boy oh boy, Furkan Korkmaz is playing poorly for the Philadelphia 76ers, right?

Since filling a fun role as a change of pace point guard in Shake Milton’s absence, Kork has only made two of his last 36 attempts from beyond the arc and has watched his field goal percentage drop a full 20 points from 47.9 to 27.7 from the first 10 games to the last 15.

While his contract is still good and there’s still plenty of time for him to turn things around, more than a few fans have started to hypothesize about a world without 30 in a red, white, and blue jersey, with some already aggregating his $4.6 million contract into other deals for a big wing or a veteran point guard.

Unfortunately, that can’t happen. No, not because Furkan Korkmaz should be traded, but because the Philadelphia 76ers literally can’t trade him until Januarth 15th as he signed a three-year veteran extension via Bird Rights with a pay bump of more than 20 percent on August 9th by a team that is over the cap.

Confusing? Yes, but either way, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

The Philadelphia 76ers have to find a new role for Furkan Korkmaz.

As crazy as it may sound, Furkan Korkmaz is the Philadelphia 76ers’ sixth-highest paid player, slotting in behind the five members of the team’s 2020-21 starting five.

That’s the bad news.

The good news? His contract only accounts for 3.2 percent of the team’s total cap commitments, which is $142.9 million, as things presently stand.

Would it be unfortunate for the Sixers to have that much money on the bench outside of Doc Rivers’ rotation? Maybe a little, but certainly not the end of the world either, especially if he literally provides negative value when he steps on the court, as his -.2 VORP clearly proves.

The solution to that problem is pretty easy: Isaiah Joe.

While Joe, too, has a negative VORP, albeit over a much smaller sample size, Korkmaz’s non-existent shot and lack of defensive ability certainly flies in the face of being a 3-and-D player and effectively makes him borderline unplayable. At worst, Joe is the same player, which is to say among the least efficient players in the NBA over the last 10 games, but there’s a chance that getting him back into the rotation could provide a change-of-pace pop that revitalizes the offense with some fresh blood.

I mean, probably not, right, as a shuck-up bench won’t magically change how Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, and Joel Embiid are being utilized, but it’d certainly be nice to get even one more 3 a game from Joe over Korkmaz.

So, while Korkmaz might not be perfectly suited to fill a full-on 3-and-D in the Sixers rotation at the present moment, is there anywhere he can contribute, even in a slightly less expansive role? Well, why not try what worked out earlier this season and see if he can do a little bit of damage as a second-unit distributor?

Granted, as many a Sixers watcher has already pointed out, that role may be better filled by Maxey, as his minutes being staggered with Embiid could benefit the team’s offensive potency, but Korkmaz has been at his best when he’s been allowed to attack the basket feely, with the chaotic energy of an older, less effective Josh Giddey.

Considering the Sixers don’t have a true, pass-first point guard – no offense to Maxey – getting the rock to as many ball handlers as possible, especially off of screens, would surely help to ease the team’s offensive burden, even if that would mark a notable change from Rivers’ ISO-heavy play calls.

Embiid could be the best screener in the NBA with the requisite talent to stack rebounds on top of rebounds; he just needs to be used as such.

As things presently stand, it’s going to be hard to win a ton of games handily with Furkan Korkmaz playing 22.3 minutes of action a night. His shot is inefficient from the field, borderline non-existent from beyond the arc, and the rest of his game just doesn’t make up for it. While rotating in Isaiah Joe could help to ease that issue in the short term, since Korkmaz can’t be traded until the offseason, it really would be in Doc Rivers’ best interest to find a role that works instead of outright benching his sixth-highest paid player indefinitely.