Former Teammate Takes Shot at Joel Embiid In Surprising Statement

Joel Embiid is a polarizing NBA figure. At his best, he is arguably the best player in the league. However, injuries and recently off the court issues have kept him out of the majority of games in his career. As Embiid continues to miss regular-season and playoff games, the league is moving past him. Embiid is no longer mentioned as one of the top centers in the league. He is being left off the top NBA players' lists. 

One of the players who has been jumping Embiid in the NBA’s big man hierarchy is Alperen Sengun. Sengun is currently leading Turkey on a run in the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket Tournament. After a recent big win, Furkan Korkmaz, a teammate to both Embiid and Sengun during his career, compared the two. 

"I think Joel Embiid was the best player, best center I was playing with, but I think we can tell that it's Alperen [Sengun] now,...It's great to be around him. He's enjoying basketball, and he helps us a lot on the court, both defensively and offensively…I think he's a special kid, and every day he's trying to give his maximum. And this year, we are also seeing that he's playing aggressive defense too, not only offense, and that gives us a lot of confidence on the court."

This is incredibly high praise for Sengun. Korkmaz was playing with Embiid when he was competing for the league’s MVP award. Sengun is still not at that level. However, maybe Korkmaz is taking a veiled shot at Embiid with his comments. Or even more likely, he is just trying to gas up his teammate to help inspire Sengun for more tournament wins. 

Regardless of the intention, comments like this start to get conversations started on where Sengun ranks amongst the league’s centers. If he keeps dominating in EuroBasket, he will continue to climb up the list.