Furkan Korkmaz details what led to ejection, altercation at EuroBasket

“You saw a little part of what happened on the court,” Korkmaz began his statement. “We got into each other face to face, and he started talking (expletive) to me. I’m not gonna let anyone talk (expletive) to my face.”

“In the game, yeah. It’s part of the game. You talk something and say something back, but the thing he said wasn’t something I’ll let slide. I reacted as a human being, as a player and as a man,” Korkmaz added.

“When I was walking to the tunnel, our conditioning guy was with me. As soon as we walked out of the tunnel and were trying to reach the locker room, I saw three Georgian players alongside two security guys running at us. We started throwing punches at each other. That’s basically what happened,” Korkmaz said.

“It was like a street fight. There was no talk or conversation. People just came at us and were trying to attack us. Of course, we reacted and tried to defend ourselves – exactly what we are going to do as men. I also think it’s a security problem. But I don’t know if it’s a security problem or if they just showed tolerance to their players.

We understand that they’re at home, but this is unacceptable. What happens on the court is fine, but we should talk more about what happens off the court,” Korkmaz continued.