Philadelphia 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo shared some big news on Thursday evening just before the team took on the Los Angeles Lakers. Colangelo met with members of the media and shared an update on the health of Markelle Fultz, who has been sidelined with a mysterious shoulder ailment since late-October.
According to Colangelo, the pain that was lingering in Fultz’s shooting shoulder is gone, and the end of one of the strangest sagas in the NBA this season is on the horizon.
Colangelo on Fultz: "The soreness is completely gone. The muscle imbalance is completely gone."
Says there's no timeline on his return, but "we anticipate that the end is near."
— Mike O'Connor (@MOConnor_NBA) December 8, 2017
Fultz was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, and was supposed to add a backcourt scoring punch to the combination of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. But something seemed off with Fultz — he only averaged six points in 19 minutes a night, and most curiously, he did not attempt a single three pointer.
As it turns out, Fultz suffered a shoulder injury. No one knows exactly how, but the most widely-accepted belief was that he adjusted his shooting form and it led to pain and ineffectiveness. There was some controversy about when his shoulder started bothering him — Fultz’s trainer and the Sixers had different stories — but things were bad enough that it kept him from playing so he could try and recover.
Fultz returned to the Sixers on Wednesday with minimal basketball activity, but Colangelo is making it sound like that’ll change soon. It is always good when talented young players are making an impact on the game and not sitting on the sidelines, so hopefully there is no lingering pain and Fultz can show off his considerable potential sooner rather than later.
