The Philadelphia 76ers made an ambitious trade before the 2017 NBA Draft when they swapped their number 3 pick with the Boston Celtics to move up and have the right to select first overall in the draft. They had their eyes set on an athletic point guard from Washington who they believed was the final piece to the puzzle.
They selected Markelle Fultz with that selection and it did not turn out to be what they envisioned. Fultz was marred by a nasty shoulder injury and he played a grand total of 33 games in 1.5 seasons in Philadelphia before being sent to the Orlando Magic at the deadline. He ended up averaging 7.7 points and 3.4 assists with the Sixers.
A ranking done by Bleacher Report has ranked Fultz as just the 18th best number 1 pick made since 2000. So that is 18 out of 20 players ranked as he was ahead of only 2001 pick Kwame Brown and 2013 pick Anthony Bennett.
B/R on Fultz:
There simply isn’t enough space here to decipher the mystery surrounding his shoulder, headspace and everything else that happened when he was with the Philadelphia 76ers, but plenty of outlets have attempted to lay out the timeline.
In short, on the rare occasions he actually did play in Philly (where he only appeared in 33 games), he was not good. He had a well-below-replacement-level BPM there, and he shot just 41.4 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from three.
Fultz is currently averaging 12.1 points and 5.2 assists as the starting point guard with the Magic as he is beginning to show some future potential, but at the moment, his overall career has been a disappointment. It will be interesting to see if he can continue to revive his career in Orlando. [lawrence-related id=33403,33384,33382]