Furkan Korkmaz Turkish Basketball Player From Istanbul

Early life

Furkan Korkmaz was born on 24 July 1997 in Istanbul and grew up in the city. He is 203 cm tall and plays shooting guard, and at times small forward. He began playing basketball with his school team at the age of nine. In 2012, at fifteen, he moved from the junior side Yesilyurt to the youth system of Anadolu Efes. Reports at the time put the fee at 250,000 dollars.

Career

In his first season in the Efes system Korkmaz played for the junior and youth teams. For 2013-14 he was loaned to Pertevniyal, a second-division club that served as Efes's feeder team. In the summer of 2014 he joined the senior Anadolu Efes squad, on a contract that carried a buyout clause of 2 million dollars for a move to the NBA.

He entered the 2016 NBA draft as an international underclassman and was taken 26th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. He chose to remain with Efes for at least another season. In December 2016 Efes loaned him to Banvit. With that club he won the Turkish Cup in February 2017, the first trophy in Banvit's history, and he received the inaugural Basketball Champions League Best Young Player award for 2016-17. Banvit reached the final of the competition and lost 63-59 to Iberostar Tenerife.

Korkmaz signed with the 76ers on 4 July 2017. As a rookie he was assigned several times to their G League affiliate, the Delaware 87ers. In the first game of the 2018 Summer League he scored 40 points, including eight three-pointers, in 28 minutes, which stands as the fifth-highest scoring game in Summer League history. In December 2018 he scored 18 points off the bench against Detroit and made his first NBA start two days later.

He re-signed with Philadelphia in July 2019 on a two-year contract. In the 2019-20 season he hit a game-winning shot against Portland in November, and in February 2020 he scored a career-high 34 points off the bench against Memphis, followed by 31 against Chicago. He averaged 9.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game that year, shooting 40.2 percent from three-point range, all career highs at the time. In 2020-21 he started 11 games and averaged 9.1 points, and he started four games in the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals against Atlanta. He signed a new three-year contract in August 2021.

On 8 February 2024 he was traded to the Indiana Pacers in a three-team deal and waived the following day, ending a stay with the 76ers that began in 2017. In August 2024 he signed with AS Monaco of the French league. He moved to Bahcesehir Koleji in the Turkish Basketbol Super Ligi at the end of December 2024, joined Tofas on 31 October 2025, and signed with Besiktas on 2 July 2026.

Public roles

Korkmaz has played for Turkey at every youth level. At the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship he was the top scorer. With the junior team he won gold at the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, then silver at the 2015 edition, where he was named to the All-Tournament Team. At the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Cup he won bronze and was again named to the All-Tournament Team. At the 2017 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship he averaged 30.8 points, 10.6 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game. He has played for the senior national team at EuroBasket 2015 and EuroBasket 2017, and at the 2016 Olympic qualifying tournament in Manila.

Recognition

Besides the Champions League Best Young Player award, Korkmaz has won the Turkish Cup twice, in 2015 and 2017, and the Turkish Supercup in 2015, all with Anadolu Efes or Banvit.