Furkan Korkmaz suffers left knee injury, misses opportunity to make mark on Sixers rotation

James Harden’s injury was supposed to provide an opportunity for Furkan Korkmaz. Instead, the 76ers guard will miss his second consecutive game with left knee swelling when his team faces the Milwaukee Bucks Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

He injured his left knee in the first half of Saturday’s 121-109 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

“It’s good,” Korkmaz said of the injury Friday morning. “It’s getting better. It’s really like day-to-day stuff a little bit. I still haven’t done contact stuff on the court. But I’m trying to push it and then I’m trying to be back as soon as possible.”

» READ MORE: The Sixers need to find balance — with and without James Harden

The matchup against the Hawks was just Korkmaz’s fifth appearance of the season. The sixth-year veteran is averaging 2.8 points and a career-low 5.6 minutes.

Korkmaz played in mop-up duty in lopsided victories against the Indiana Pacers (Oct. 24) and Toronto Raptors (Oct. 28). But with Harden sidelined with a right foot tendon strain, Korkmaz was in the rotation against the New York Knicks on Nov. 4. After sitting out the next game, he played in consecutive contests against the Hawks on Nov. 10 and Saturday.

Korkmaz was off to a solid start Saturday before suffering the injury, producing a season-high seven points on 3-for-4 shooting in four minutes.

“It’s definitely disappointing a little bit, but it was just bad luck,” he said. “I just gotta be like, ‘Hey, it could be worse.’ This type of injury, it’s gonna happen during the season. It doesn’t matter if you play, if you don’t play, it’s gonna happen. But at the end of the day, it could be worse. That’s my mindset.”

Korkmaz isn’t the only member of the Sixers dealing with injury. Harden will miss his sixth consecutive game Friday, while Jaden Springer is out with a right quad strain and Tobias Harris is questionable with left hip soreness.

The Bucks will be without Pat Connaughton (right calf strain), Joe Ingles (left knee ACL surgery), Wesley Matthews (right hamstring strain) and Khris Middleton (left wrist ligament surgery). Jrue Holiday is questionable (right ankle sprain) and Grayson Allen (right ankle sprain) is probable.

Sixers coach Doc Rivers likes to converse with opponents at different points during games.

So it would only be natural for him to speak with Milwaukee Bucks point guard Jevon Carter, a Maywood, Ill., native who attended Proviso East High School. Rivers graduated from Proviso East in 1980 as the nation’s top scholastic basketball player. Meanwhile, Carter graduated from the school as a three-star recruit in 2014.

» READ MORE: Doc Rivers’ father was his ‘biggest inspiration.’ Sixers coach shares moments that shaped him

However, both players are among a long list of former Pirates with NBA careers. Jim Brewer, Michael Finley, Steven Hunter, Sherrell Ford, Donnie Boyce, Dee Brown, Reggie Jordan, Shannon and Sterling Brown and former Sixers two-way player Jacob Pullen are the others.

Carter is also a former AAU teammate of New York Knicks point guard and former Villanova standout Jalen Brunson. Carter, who has known Rivers all his life, averaged a career-high 9.5 points and 3.6 assists through 14 games — all starts — this season.