Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz made an interesting comment regarding former teammate Joel Embiid.
Korkmaz is playing in Europe for the EuroBasket tournament, where he is representing his home country of Turkey.
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The guard comes with an NBA pedigree, playing several seasons with the Sixers as a first-round draft pick.
His team is in the finals of the tournament, and during a press conference, Korkmaz took time to make a bold claim regarding Joel Embiid and his Turkish teammate, Alperen Sengun.
"Until now I think Joel Embiid is the best player, best center that I was playing," Korkmaz said.
"But I think we can tell it's Alperen now," Korkmaz noted. "He helps us a lot on the court defensively and offensively. I think he's a special kid."
Korkmaz played seven seasons alongside Embiid, mainly featuring off the bench, providing defense on the perimeter and shooting.
In the NBA, he avereaged 6.8 points, 1.2 assists, and 2.0 rebounds per game, coming in for 18.6 minutes on average.
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Embiid has been on the sidelines over the past couple of season with a lingering knee issue, preventing him from regularly featuring on the court.
Back in November, Korkmaz defended Embiid amid critism regarding his health. The big man played 39 games in 2023 and only 19 last season, though the Turkish player does not believe it is without effort.
"I mean, he's trying his best every day when he steps on the court," Korkmaz told BasketNews.
"Health-wise, I hope that he's going to be healthy and he's going to have a healthy season. In the NBA, it's hard to play a lot of games. Back-to-back games and all that stuff. It's hard to keep it up. Hopefully, he can be healthy and then can win the championship for the team."
While Embiid has been off the court, Sengun has established himself in th eleague, showing plenty of promise.
He can playmake at an elite level for a center, while having a diverse array of post moves.
Sengun stands out in the league right now, but if Embiid does return healthy, the former MVP has the chance to remind everyone - including Korkmaz - how special he is.
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