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With all the expectations on him for his first season in the league, it was very frustrating for Philadelphia 76ers fans to see Markelle Fultz have a slow start. His shoulder injury that is without a timetable for his return, has also caused a lot of concern for them.
The 6-foot-4 guard’s agent, Raymond Brothers, recently gave an update about the status of his client’s injury. He admitted, via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, that they are still in the process of finding ways to make him feel better soon, and that giving him cortisone shots has been the initial path they’ve decided to take for the Sixers rookie.
“He had a cortisone shot on Oct. 5, which means fluid was put into his shoulder — not taken out,” agent Raymond Brothers told ESPN on Tuesday night. “My intention earlier was to let people know that he’s been experiencing discomfort. We will continue to work with (Sixers general manager) Bryan Colangelo and the medical staff.”
“Markelle had a shoulder injury and fluid drained out of the back of his shoulder. He literally cannot raise up his arms to shoot the basketball. He decided to try and fight through the pain to help the team. He has a great attitude. We are committed to finding a solution to get Markelle back to 100 percent.”
Markelle Fultz was only able to see 16 minutes of action during the Sixers’ win on Monday against the Detroit Pistons. It was their first victory of the season, and they were fortunate that they did not need him to play a lot of minutes, especially with Ben Simmons’ brilliant performance on the night, recorded the first triple-double of his career.
Brett Brown is expected to give more playing time to T.J. McConnell and Jerryd Bayless during Fultz’s absence. However, with the ability of Simmons to run the point, despite standing at 6-foot-10, the Sixers head coach may opt to go with him for most stretches, as he has shown he has the utmost confidence in the Australian international’s playmaking skills.