Philadelphia 76ers forward Furkan Korkmaz represents the Turkish national team in the 2022 EuroBasket, and he has already had an eventful week.
During the game against Georgia on Sunday, Korkmaz became tangled up with Georgian forward Duda Sanadze. Following the altercations, Korkmaz was ejected from the game.
The Turkish basketball federation then alleged that Korkmaz was followed into the locker room and attacked by members of the Georgian national team and the federal police.
Korkmaz had scored nine points against Montenegro and four points when facing Georgia before the ejection. Despite the drama, however, he appeared in the the starting lineup on Tuesday against Belgium. He had his best game of the tournament thus far.
Furkan Korkmaz bouncing back in style, up to 11 points in 13 minutespic.twitter.com/PjwkfyRwDq
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) September 6, 2022
The Turkish national team needed a victory as they were tied with Belgium in group standings beforehand, and Korkmaz helped them deliver. He had 11 points in the first 13 minutes.
At the end of the game, he finished with a total of 16 points and 5 rebounds.
Afterward, he told reporters that while he was affected by the events of the weekend, he knew that he would play well once back on the court.
