What the Philadelphia 76ers lose by trading Markelle Fultz

By Michael Bronson | Nov 26, 2018

Markelle Fultz | Philadelphia 76ers (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Markelle Fultz has been a disappointment for the Philadelphia 76ers, and there’s a good chance his time with the team will be over soon. While trading Fultz is the correct decision, the Sixers’ depth could pose issues.

Markelle Fultz’s time with the Philadelphia 76ers has been a dream that quickly turned into a nightmare. A player with a great jump shot in college who appeared to be the perfect player to pair with Ben Simmons in the Sixers’ backcourt, lost his ability to shoot shortly after the draft and has been incapable of finding it.

Whether it’s bad coaching, a shoulder injury, or lost confidence, there was little hope that the Fultz I saw in college would be the Fultz that played for the Sixers during his sophomore season. In my article detailing my expectations for Fultz’s this season, I hoped he would average at least 10 points per game and make over 40 percent of his shots.

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Fultz, averaging 8.2 points per game while making 41. 9 percent of his shots, isn’t clearing the extremely low bar I set for him, but he is close to it. With that said, his time off the bench after the Sixers essentially gave up on him by trading for Jimmy Butler gave me hope he would no longer be a detriment to the team.

Fultz didn’t look like a player that is capable of making an All-Star game at some point during his career, but he became a useful bench player, and the Sixers desperately need useful bench players. Through 21 games the Sixers’ bench are averaging 35 points per game, but have dropped to 27 points per game in the six games since Butler joined (this article was written before their game against the Brooklyn Nets).

The sharp drop in bench scoring comes from J.J. Redick being inserted into the starting lineup. With Redick no longer on the bench, Fultz was given the role of sixth man in the Sixers’ Nov.14, game against the Orlando Magic.

Fultz basically played the role of a poor man’s Ben Simmons, and it shockingly worked. Fultz made four of the six shots he took, made two assists, grabbed three rounds, and tied Mike Muscala for highest bench scorer that game with eight points.

I was expecting Fultz to be glued to the bench after the Butler trade and was getting upset that Brett Brown was playing him as much as he did during Butler’s first game with the Sixers, but coach Brown was right and Fultz had one of his best games of the season.

All the craziness involving Fultz’s agent, shoulder, and happiness ruined one of the few times I started to see Fultz help the team in practice instead of in theory. To be clear, I don’t believe Fultz is a better player than T.J. McConnell, but he’s currently the Sixers’ top bench scorer.

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Fultz has become too much of a distraction for a bench warmer and the Sixers have done everything to try and help him reach his potential. But if all the Sixers are offered is a second-round pick, they might be better off keeping the circus in town for several more months and hope Fultz matures or gets a new agent.