{"id":89060,"date":"2024-08-06T11:36:17","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T15:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=89060"},"modified":"2024-08-06T11:36:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T15:36:17","slug":"longtime-76ers-player-furkan-korkmaz-provides-heartfelt-goodbye-to-fanbase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/06\/longtime-76ers-player-furkan-korkmaz-provides-heartfelt-goodbye-to-fanbase\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime 76ers Player Provides Heartfelt Goodbye To Fanbase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/korkmfu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Furkan Korkmaz<\/a> has played the last seven seasons as a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/04\/paris-olympics-sixers-joel-embiid-coming-alive-at-right-time\/\" target=\"_self\">Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>. Philadelphia selected the Turkish guard with the 26th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Korkmaz\u2019s tenure saw seasons where he was a large part of the rotation and others where he struggled to receive playing time (especially the last two seasons).<\/p>\n<p>It was a little over a week ago where it was confirmed that Korkmaz has <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/fantasy\/basketball\/news\/furkan-korkmaz-inks-pact-overseas\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">signed with AS Monaco<\/a> for the upcoming season. They are a team based in France playing in the EuroLeague.<br \/>\nOn Monday, Korkmaz provided a heartfelt goodbye message to the 76ers fanbase and Philadelphia\u2019s organization as a whole on his Instagram.<\/p>\n<h2>Longtime 76ers Player Provides Heartfelt Goodbye To Fanbase<\/h2>\n<h3>Korkmaz Experienced Highs And Lows With The 76ers<\/h3>\n<p>Now 27 years old, Korkmaz didn\u2019t always feel appreciated in Philadelphia. There were multiple times where it was reported that he <a  href=\"https:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/2024\/02\/nba-trade-deadline-furkan-korkmaz-demand-sixers-pacers-buddy-hield\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">requested a trade<\/a>. The 76ers finally acquiesced, as he was part of a three-team deal that sent <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hieldbu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buddy Hield<\/a> to Philadelphia. Korkmaz was traded to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/27\/pacers-star-tyrese-haliburton-believes-his-team-is-being-overlooked-in-the-east\/\" target=\"_self\">Indiana Pacers<\/a>, who subsequently released him.<\/p>\n<p>So while Korkmaz didn\u2019t end last season with the 76ers, they are still the only NBA franchise he has played for. He decided to show his appreciation for 76ers fans and team with a lengthy message <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C-TGlb4uiXR\/?img_index=1\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on his Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>To the Sixers Family,<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t have a chance to say goodbye, but now I want to take a moment to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you to the Sixers organization, to the amazing fans, and to my coaches and teammates. Your support and love have been incredible. I\u2019ve made incredible friendships along the way, and I\u2019m grateful for every moment spent on and off the court. We\u2019ve shared so many good and tough times together. Philadelphia, The City of Brotherly Love, you will always hold a special place in my heart.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for the memories and the journey.<\/p>\n<p>Now, a new chapter begins in my career. \u231b\ufe0f<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It was nice closure for Korkmaz with a team\u2019s fanbase he knew well for seven years. He can now further prepare for the next chapter in his playing career.<\/p>\n<h3>Didn\u2019t Play Much Last Two Seasons<\/h3>\n<p>From the 2019-20 to 2021-22 seasons, the six-foot-seven Korkmaz played a large role in Philadelphia\u2019s rotation. During those three seasons, he would combine to play an average of 20.8 minutes and made 42 starts. In that time, he averaged 8.8 points and shot 36.0% from three-point territory.<\/p>\n<p>The shooting guard was mostly an afterthought for the 76ers in the past two seasons. He played just 72 total games for Philadelphia in 2022-23 and 2023-24. In 2022-23, he averaged 9.5 minutes per contest. Last season, that dwindled down even further to 8.6. In 328 career regular season games for the 76ers, Korkmaz averaged 6.8 points while connecting on 35.6% of his three-point tries.<\/p>\n<p>Now Korkmaz is joining an AS Monaco team that finished in third place in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/07\/nba-mike-james-euroleague-all-time-leading-scorer\/\" target=\"_self\">EuroLeague<\/a> in 2022-23 and has a lot of NBA experience <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.euroleaguebasketball.net\/euroleague\/teams\/as-monaco\/roster\/mco\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on their roster<\/a>. Along with Korkmaz, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/motiedo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donatas Motiejunas<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/papagge01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Georgios Papagiannis<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/blossja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaron Blossomgame<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesmi02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike James<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okoboel01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elie Okobo<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/calatni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Calathes<\/a> are have varying levels of NBA experience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Furkan Korkmaz has played the last seven seasons as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. Philadelphia selected the Turkish guard with the 26th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Korkmaz\u2019s tenure saw seasons where he was a large part of the rotation and others where he struggled to receive playing time (especially the last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":89087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,61,62,13],"tags":[1721,1991,1111],"class_list":["post-89060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-international-basketball","category-nba","category-76ers","tag-euroleague","tag-france","tag-furkan-korkmaz"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}