Furkan Korkmaz eyes more playing time in absence of Matisse Thybulle

TORONTO–As the Philadelphia 76ers take a trip up to Canada to take on the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 of their playoff series on Wednesday, they will be missing their best perimeter defender in the form of Matisse Thybulle.

Thybulle is not able to enter the country of Canada due to the fact that he is not fully vaccinated and that means the Sixers have to find somebody else to fill his role off the bench.

Philadelphia will have a few options, but the one that stands out the most is Furkan Korkmaz. The fifth-year guard from Turkey has been out of the rotation for a few months now as he has had a very down year in terms of his shooting and the Sixers needed to find somebody who is more consistent.

With Thybulle out, Korkmaz sees this as an opportunity to get back in the rotation and help his team in the playoffs.

“Yeah, definitely,” said Korkmaz. “We knew, all of us, I knew he’s not gonna play here so I was really prepared. Yesterday morning, I got some shots up, this morning, we had the team practice and I got some shots up. I feel ready especially because it’s playoff time.”

The last time Korkmaz played any meaningful minutes was back on March 25 when he played 10:53 against the Los Angeles Clippers. He has a tendency of having big games when he hasn’t played in a while so that is something that is going to be worth keeping an eye on for Philadelphia in this one.

“I don’t think there is any extra motivation needed,” he finished. “It’s already playoff time and you gotta stay ready and just go out there and play.”

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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