So much has gone on in Philadelphia since the Jimmy Butler trade, both on and off the floor, that it can sometimes be easy to forget that Markelle Fultz has been away from the team as he’s worked to rehabilitate his shoulder. However, on Saturday afternoon, we got an update on the Fultz front that indicates he’s heading back to the City of Brotherly Love.
No, Fultz isn’t preparing to suit up for the team any time soon, but according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the second-year guard is returning from the west coast to keep rehabbing as he looks to get past the thoracic outlet syndrome that has ostensibly plagued him up to this point in his professional career.
Guard Markelle Fultz has returned to Philadelphia to continue his shoulder rehabilitation with the Sixers, league sources tell ESPN. No timetable yet on a return to the lineup. He's attending Sixers-Thunder game today.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 19, 2019
Wojnarowski added a potentially optimistic bit of news, saying that the hope is that returning to Philly will let Fultz ramp up his workload with the hopes of him getting back on the floor.
Fultz has been undergoing therapy for thoracic outlet syndrome in Los Angeles since leaving the Sixers in early December. Sixers have had staff in California observing progress, and now Fultz will work at team's facility to try to ramp up for an eventual return to the season. https://t.co/c67hh1rI9g
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 19, 2019
Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice confirmed this report, saying the Sixers are essentially taking a wait and see approach when it comes to putting a timetable together for Fultz.
Internally, Sixers still have no timetable/expectation for when Markelle Fultz would return to practice or game situations. His return to Philadelphia at this moment is strictly to continue physical therapy and the team will go from there, I’m told.
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 19, 2019
It would be awfully optimistic — perhaps even blindly so — to expect that Fultz can come back and be the guy who Philadelphia took with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Still, the Sixers could use some help in their backcourt and off the bench, and even if Fultz is able to come back at 70 percent of what everyone hoped he’d be out of college, that would be a boost. For now, though, all anyone can do is wait and see where he is physically now that he’s back in town.
