Former 76ers No. 1 Pick Is Undoubtedly a Bust, but His Story Still Feels Unfinished

Calling Markelle Fultz a draft bust is not unfair. It is just incomplete.

Bleacher Report ranked Fultz among the biggest draft busts of all time, and by the simplest standard, it is easy to understand why. He was the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, selected by a Philadelphia 76ers team that traded up to get him. That kind of investment comes with franchise-changing expectations. Fultz never came close to meeting them in Philadelphia.

But his story has always felt different from the usual draft miss. Some players fail because the league exposes flaws that were already there. Others fail because the projection was built more on hope than actual ability. Fultz did not fit cleanly into either category.

At Washington, he looked like the kind of point guard prospect that only comes along every few years. 

During his lone college season, Fultz averaged 23.2 points, 5.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks while shooting 41.3 percent from three. The numbers spoke volumes, but the appeal went beyond production. He had size for a lead guard, smooth scoring instincts, passing touch, pace, body control, and shot creation from all three levels.

There were not many obvious basketball weaknesses. Fultz could operate in pick-and-roll, get downhill, rise into pull-up jumpers, and finish with craft around the rim. He was not just an athlete or just a shooter. He looked like a complete offensive guard, the kind of player who could eventually run an NBA offense while also creating his own shot late in possessions.

That version of Fultz never fully arrived in Philadelphia.

Instead, his career became one of the strangest player-development stories in recent NBA memory. The jump shot that looked natural at Washington became uncertain. His shoulder became a constant source of questions. His confidence and rhythm disappeared in public view. By the time he was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, the mystery around his shooting form had already defined his story. 

That is what makes the bust label complicated.

Fultz did not produce like a No. 1 pick. He played only 33 games for the Sixers, was eventually traded to Orlando, and has settled into a career far closer to a useful rotation guard than a franchise centerpiece. For Philadelphia, there is no way to spin the pick as anything but a disappointment, especially given the talent that came after him in the 2017 draft.

Still, Fultz was not a case of a prospect being badly overrated from the start. He was a player whose best traits appeared to be disrupted before they could fully translate. The handle remained. The passing flashes remained. The ability to get into the paint returned at times in Orlando. But the elite pull-up shooting and effortless scoring package that made him special at Washington never came back.

That distinction matters.

Fultz is probably a bust because draft status is measured against outcome, not sympathy. The No. 1 pick is supposed to become a star, and he didn't get close to that. 

But the saddest part of his career is not only that he failed to meet expectations. It is that basketball never got a clean look at what he might have become if the version from Washington had reached the league intact.

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Wes Dixon is a contributing writer to 76ersRoundtable. He can be reached at [email protected].