The Philadelphia 76ers made the block bluster trade of the trade deadline by landing James Harden. Harden has been a revelation for the Sixers and fans should be happy with this trade overall.
However, to say that the 76ers didn’t lose anything would be an understatement. Besides losing an All-Star in Ben Simmons, a great backup center in Andre Drummond, and two future first round picks, they also lost sharpshooter Seth Curry.
Curry is one of the best shooters in the NBA and is already in the 76ers record books. With the Sixers this season, Curry shot 40.0 percent on 5.6 3-point attempts per game. While it’s impossible to replicate his shooting, Philly will have to look elsewhere on the roster for more 3-point shooting moving forward.
There are three players that could fill this role and only players in the current rotation will be considered. Apologies to Isaiah Joe who is an honorable mention on this list.
3 Sixers players who can step up in Curry’s place: Furkan Korkmaz
When the Harden trade first occurred my initial thought was that Furkan Korkmaz needed to step up. It makes sense on paper, with Korkmaz being developing into a sharpshooter during his tenure with the Sixers.
In years past, he’s been just that for the 76ers, but not this season. The graph below shows his stats for the past three seasons.
| Season | Tm | Pos | G | GS | MP | FG% | 3P% | 2P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | PHI | SG | 72 | 12 | 21.7 | .430 | .402 | .478 | .755 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 9.8 |
| 2020-21 | PHI | SG | 55 | 11 | 19.3 | .401 | .375 | .445 | .732 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 9.1 |
| 2021-22 | PHI | SG | 56 | 19 | 23.0 | .389 | .290 | .516 | .816 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 8.2 |
| Career | 245 | 49 | 19.0 | .406 | .356 | .482 | .769 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 8.0 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/6/2022.
While he’s been that in the past two seasons, he’s struggled mightily this season shooting a career worse 29.0 percent from the 3-point line.
It’s gotten even worse in the four games that Korkmaz has played with Harden in. Korkmaz has averaged just 10.8 minutes and 0.8 points on 16.7 percent from deep. He’s been losing his spot in the rotation to Shake Milton and rightfully so.
After getting a three-year and $15 million contract, Korkmaz hasn’t lived up to it this season. If he can recapture his shooting touch before the end of the season, then he might be able to take on Curry’s role, but it seems very unlikely at this point.