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The Philadelphia 76ers entered the 2017 NBA Draft coming off a promising season. Joel Embiid just finished up a promising rookie season, Ben Simmons was set to begin his career after missing the whole season with an injury, and there was some momentum around the team to finally breakthrough.
So, they pulled the trigger on a deal with the Boston Celtics to move up from the number 3 pick in the draft to the number 1 pick to select Markelle Fultz out of Washington. The hope was that he would come in and run the offense and form a Big 3 with Embiid and Simmons.
Unfortunately, Fultz’s Sixers career was filled with bizarre moments and a rare shoulder injury that limited him to a grand total of 33 games in 1.5 seasons with Philadelphia before being sent to the Orlando Magic. He averaged 7.7 points and 3.4 assists in those 33 games and the Sixers tried to make him a starter in his second season to try and jump-start his development, but it did not work out as he was limited to 19 games due to thoracic outlet syndrome.
He did have a few good moments during his time in Philadelphia. He had a triple-double in the season finale in his rookie season against the Milwaukee Bucks that got everybody excited about his future.
During his time with Orlando, Fultz has taken over the starting point guard job and he performed admirably in the playoffs for the Magic. He averaged 12.0 points and 5.2 assists Round 1 as Orlando fell to Milwaukee in five games after the Magic took a 1-0 lead. It was good to see him have a few nice moments to try and get his career going after a rough start. [lawrence-related id=37727,37723,37720]