Furkan Korkmaz defended his former teammate and Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid for missing games, claiming 'He's trying his best every day. In the NBA, it's hard to play a lot of games.'
Furkan Korkmaz, who previously played for the Philadelphia 76ers alongside Joel Embiid, defended his former teammate.
Recently, Embiid received a lot of criticism for missing games, as he's yet to make his season debut in the 2024-25 campaign.
Nevertheless, Korkmaz argued that Embiid is always doing his best.
"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."
Recently, NBA Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett slammed Embiid, while Shaquille O'Neal claimed 76ers star doesn't want to win the NBA title.
Embiid himself also responded to his critics, arguing he's done too much for the city already.
"When I see people saying, 'He doesn't want to play,' I've done way too much for this city, putting myself at risk for people to be saying that. I do think it's bullshit," Embiid said.
Last week, the 76ers star was also involved in an altercation when Embiid shoved a local reported.
The reporter Marcus Hayes had been highly critical of the player recently, referencing his late brother and son. Embiid got into a fiery verbal back-and-forth once he noticed that Hayes was in the locker room.
Hayes offered to issue an apology, but Embiid did not accept. Around two minutes into it, Embiid shoved Hayes, and security had to step in, Kyle Neubeck from PHLY Sports reports. 76ers players surrounded the situation, and the matter was put to rest.
A few days later, the NBA announced that Embiid will be suspended for 3 games without pay.
Meanwhile, Korkmaz, who signed for the EuroLeague team AS Monaco this summer, played with Embiid for 6.5 seasons in the 76ers. Despite an anticlimactic departure, the Turkish international doesn't rule out his return to the NBA.
"I mean, who knows? We will see. Like I said, my only focus is to get it done in Monaco this year, and then we'll see what's gonna happen from there," Korkmaz said.
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