Philadelphia 76ers: Is Furkan Korkmaz’s run almost done?

When the Philadelphia 76ers signed Furkan Korkmaz to a three-year, $15 million contract, it looked like a good move for all parties involved.

Korkmaz was coming off of his best season as a pro, providing real utility coming off the bench in an expanded role, and the Sixers clearly made it a priority to lock up their sixth man for the foreseeable future in the hopes of forming a formidable wing rotation alongside Matisse Thybulle and fifth-starter Danny Green, who was also signed to a two-year extension.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out that way. No, despite everyone’s best intentions, Korkmaz failed to live up to his previous glory and found himself the odd man out of the Sixers’ rotation come playoff time. His points, steals, and shooting percentages across the board dropped despite an uptick in minutes, and the early excitement of “Point Furk” disappeared rather quickly as a result.

With two years left on his contract at a relatively team-friendly but very much tradeable AAV of $5 million, could Philadelphia 76ers general manager Daryl Morey believe that Furkan Korkmaz is more valuable to the team as matching salary in a trade instead of on the court? Based on the players conceivably available, that certainly might be the case.

Korkmaz’s contract could prove valuable to the Philadelphia 76ers this summer.

As things presently stand, Furkan Korkmaz is projected to be the 187th highest-paid player in the NBA. Now granted, that number will change in the not-too-distant future, as the 2022 NBA Draft and free agency will be here before we know it, but hey, for the sake of argument, let’s go with it.

Because the Philadelphia 76ers are over the cap, the team can only take back a contract worth 125 percent of Korkmaz’s cap hit, or about $6.25 million in a one-for-one trade. That, presently, opens the door for some 172 players who theoretically could be acquired for Korkmaz’s services, even if, realistically, most trades would be with other teams who are over the cap and thus would be subject to the same 125 percent rule.

Okay, so with that further qualifier applied, that leaves roughly 50 players left who could be acquired via trade, with a few more, notably members of the OKC Thunder, the Detroit Pistons, and San Antonio Spurs, who could be procured without having to match salary since they are under the cap.

Unspurisnlgy, there are a number of interesting players who are available between those numbers indeed.

Excluding obvious players who aren’t in the Korkmaz stratosphere from a trade standpoint, players like Cam Johnson, Tyrese Haliburton, and Jordan Poole, the market for a $5 million player is pretty good, with Justise Winslow, Torrey Craig, Cory Joseph, and Hamidou Diallo all theoretically in play. Of those four, Winslow, Craig, and Diallo all make a good bit of sense for the Eagles as trade targets, especially for their presumed price, and may just provide the Sixers with more specialized firepower than Korkmaz, who was more of an all-round player than a specialist.

Winslow, a player many wanted to see acquired in the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade, is a Ben Simmons-esque point forward who can dribble, drive, dish, and do the dirty work on the boards both offensive and defensive when his number is called. While he’s far from a knockdown shooter, Winslow caught on late in 2021-22 as a hybrid forward for the Portland Trail Blazers and seriously elevated his stock after an ugly lone season with the Memphis Grizzlies. For a team who severely lacked in terms of bigger forwards, especially ones who could rebound and switch on the defensive end of the court, Winslow is a solid enough option at the tender age of 26. A strong favorite indeed.

Craig, too, is a forward, but he’s more of your prototypical 3-and-D wing than a newfangled, super-sized ball-handler, especially on defense. Measuring in at 6-foot-7, 221 pounds, Craig has appeared in 64 playoff games, guarded some of the better players in the NBA at very consequential moments, and, even at 31, has the potential to play out the remaining balance of his contract at the same level that made him an attractive target for the Phoenix Suns at the trade deadline.

And as for Diallo? Well, he might just be the most uniquely intriguing player on the entire list.

An under-athletic 6-foot-5 wing out of Kentucky, Diallo has averaged double-digit points in each of the last two seasons as a slashing sparkplug coming off the bench. Though he doesn’t have a reputation for being a defensive stopper, Diallo has recorded a positive Defensive RAPTOR in all but one of his professional seasons and has become a more effective scorer in each subsequent season. If Diallo can put it all together, he could be a certified starter at the NBA level. If not, he’ll be the sort of player who scores 30-plus points on multiple occasions during the same season he earns double-digit DNPs.

Sidebar: Want a player of note on a non-over-the-cap team? Kenrich Williams is unquestionably the guy, though he’ll cost more than just Korkmaz (read up on him here.)

Factor in the ability to aggregate Forkmaz’s contract alongside others on the Sixers payroll, and the opportunities become all the more interesting.

Will Furkan Korkmaz be back with the Philadelphia 76ers this fall? Honestly, I sort of doubt it; the Sixers’ roster is weirdly composed, and Korkmaz is much more of a big shooting guard than a big wing who can cover small, let alone power forwards. The real question becomes who the Sixers could get for his services and if said player can actually push the team towards their ultimate goal of making it to the NBA Finals… or at least out of the second round.