Philadelphia 76ers: Ranking first round picks for the past 10 years

By Lucas Johnson | May 9, 2020

Philadelphia 76ers, Ben Simmons (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

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Markelle Fultz (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Markelle Fultz (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

11. Markelle Fultz

Despite being selected first overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, it’s fair to say that at least during his stint with the Philadelphia 76ers, Markelle Fultz was a bust. Not only because of his on the court performance but because of what former president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo gave up to draft.

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Before that draft, the Boston Celtics originally had the first pick, but Colangelo decided he wanted to move up from the third pick to the first pick to make sure he could select the 6-foot-3 point guard. Not only did Colangelo send Boston the third pick in 2017, but what ultimately became Romeo Langford, the 14th pick of the 2019 NBA Draft.

Thanks to him developing thoracic outlet syndrome, Fultz was never able to live up to his status as the number one pick due to the effect that injury had on his shooting motion. In two seasons with the Sixers, he only played in a total of 64 games. In those games, he averaged 7.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists, while shooting 26.7 percent from deep.

Fultz might have dropped lowers in these rankings, but the injury wasn’t his fault and outside of his shooting, he didn’t play terribly for the 76ers. The good news for him is that he’s starting to tap into his potential since he was traded to the Orlando Magic.