No one feels great about how Markelle Fultz’s time in Philly went down but Fultz recently set the record straight on his time with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The number one overall pick in the 2017 draft was looked at as the missing piece to the Sixers young core and the perfect complement to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. In the year following the selection of Ben Simmons with the top pick, the Sixers dished out the third overall pick and an additional first-rounder in order to climb to the first pick. Fultz was the consensus first overall pick due to his flashes of off-the-dribble excellence and smooth shooting during his one season at Washington.
From the second the Sixers got their hands on Markelle Fultz, it was clear he was not the same player he was in college. His poor pre-draft workout was not enough to steer the Sixers away from selecting the top prospect, and he soon became one of the strangest stories in sports. The newly developed hitch in his shot prevented Fultz from playing like the player he once showed to be and started the downward spiral that his career in Philly became.
Over the course of two seasons, Fultz played just 33 games with the 76ers. He averaged 20.2 minutes, where he produced 7.7 points, 3.4 assists, and 3.4 rebounds during his time with the team. Multiple strange stories and rumors were surrounding the situation, but the bottom line was that Fultz was never to get himself right in Philly.
Despite the frustrating circumstances, Sixers fans never stopped supporting Fultz. As has become a common theme, the public perception of the situation tended to paint Philadelphia fans in poor light. While his production during his time in Philly was undoubtedly much less than fans had hoped, the message from fans was the consistent hope that he would get back to form rather than being critical of his current state. Markelle Fultz took to a podcast hosted by Etan Thomas to help set the record straight for his time in Philly.
The time that Fultz spent in Philadelphia was absolutely a circus, but it was not at his expense. It was nice for the 6’3 guard to take to this platform and give a more accurate representation of his time in Philly. It is also worth noting that this clip was the first tweet that Joel Embiid had liked in nearly three months.
The NBA journey of Markelle Fultz has not been easy so far. The current Magic guard is currently recovering from a torn ACL that occurred last season. The injury has been an additional roadblock, but Fultz is in the midst of a career revival down in Orlando. In the 80 games he has been on the court, he has improved in nearly all statistical categories. His NBA journey hasn’t been what it was imagined to be, but it is nice to know there are no hard feelings between Fultz and Philly.
