Markelle Fultz is available and will play Monday night against the Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Bobby Brown announced before the game. The first overall pick from last year’s draft had only suited up for the first four games of this season before being shut down with “scapular muscle imbalance.”
Markelle Fultz will finally return for the 76ers after long injury absence
Fultz has spent more than five months strengthening his shoulders and relearning how to shoot.
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“It was his decision,” Brown told reporters prior to the game. “I get goosebumps telling you all that. I’m so proud of him, and the people around him have done great things. I give that kid credit, he will be with us tonight.”
As you likely know, Fultz essentially lost his ability to shoot jumpers correctly earlier this season in a bizarre national story, and has spent nearly all season working to correct his shoulder muscles and shooting form. For weeks, it had been mentioned that Fultz might return before the season ended, and the 76ers frequently said that his return would be up to him — dependent on his comfort level and confidence. Clearly, Fultz has reached that point and Philadelphia is welcoming him back, even with just 10 games remaining on the schedule.
Brown says that Fultz will come off the bench and play backup point guard minutes behind Ben Simmons, while T.J. McConnell moves to an off ball role. In that role, Fultz is expected to play about 14 minutes, and it’s unlikely that the 76ers would deviate from that.
“There needs to be an intelligent, realistic plan for him, and we’re all going to learn and see how this plays out,” Brown said. “We can look in the rearview mirror and remember a bunch of different things, but to come out of this and he looks confident, his body’s off the charts good.”
Brown described his minutes the rest of the season as a “drip feed,” which must correlate with the intelligent plan that Brown also mentioned above.
This is an exciting moment for everyone around the 76ers, who also celebrated the team’s clinching of a playoff berth over the weekend — the first since 2012. It will be good to see the highly lauded rookie back on the court playing basketball again, and we’re all eager to see what he looks like taking jump shots.
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