NBA: New Fultz drama: No.1 pick meets specialists

The drama about Markelle Fultz goes into the next round. The Philadelphia 76ers Point Guard will meet with a specialist next week to examine his shoulder. Until then he will not participate in the training or the games of his team.

Fultz Agent Raymond Brothers confirmed this to ESPN. Neither Sixers coach Brett Brown nor General Manager Elton Brand was informed about the new problems of the No.1 pick of 2017 in advance. Only a call from Brothers on Tuesday brought the bad news.

“From a medical point of view, we didn’t see anything that wouldn’t allow him to play,” Brand told reporters. “He played yesterday and he also played two days ago.”

Brand himself does not yet know how long Fultz will be out of action. “Monday’s the date, after that we’ll know more.”

The problems around Fultz’s shoulder have been going on since the beginning of his rookie season. The 20-year-old had only 14 games on the pitch in 2017/18 and missed the rest of the season due to various injuries, all apparently related to his right shoulder.

This was especially noticeable during the shooting, Fultz’s litter seemed extremely uneven in the past season. Although he invested a lot of time in his jumper in the summer and worked together with the renowned shooting coach Drew Hanlen, there has been no improvement so far. A few days ago it became known that Fultz and Hanlen had ended their cooperation.

In 2018/19, the Point Guard has played 19 games so far with 8.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. However, he only hit 41.9 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from downtown and 56.8 percent from the free-throw line.