When you’re taken as the first pick in your NBA Draft Class, you always have an extra unique burden to carry in your first season. For Philadelphia 76ers rookie Markelle Fultz, his season has gone far from planned but maybe it’s finally ready to turn around.
After missing the previous few months with a puzzling shoulder ailment that didn’t seem to be improving much, Fultz finally made his return to the hardwood against the Denver Nuggets. Fultz played as the backup point guard to ben Simmons and saw 14 minutes of action.
In those 14 minutes, Fultz tallied 10 points and an impressive 8 assists compared to just one turnover. You can watch highlights of Fultz’ performance below, video courtesy of the NBA on YouTube.
A return like this would usually be highly-anticipated but this one wasn’t because it really came out of the blue. It was looking bleak as to whether Fultz would play again at all this season and for him to make a return without reports surfacing of his improvement is a pleasant surprise to everybody.
His actual performance in his limited playing time as well was a very encouraging sign for the up and coming 76ers. With the playoffs right around the corner, they could use another body especially one who is adept at ball-handling to take some of the offensive load off fellow rookie Ben Simmons’ shoulders.
