Report: 76ers made Fultz available for trade on draft night
The Philadelphia 76ers reportedly dangled Markelle Fultz during the NBA draft.
While the organization continues to say that the former No. 1 overall pick won't be moved, the Sixers did make Fultz available for trade Thursday, multiple league sources told Philly.com's Keith Pompey.
This falls in line with a report from The Athletic's Michael Scotto which stated Philadelphia held internal discussions about packaging Fultz with both its No. 10 and No. 26 picks in order to procure a top-5 selection.
The Sixers ended up using those picks to take Villanova's Mikal Bridges and Wichita State's Landry Shamet, although Bridges was moved to the Phoenix Suns that same night in exchange for No. 16 pick Zhaire Smith.
Fultz made just 14 appearances in his rookie year after being held out by the team due to a shoulder injury. This, paired with what his personal trainer recently described as being "yips," threw Fultz' form off to the point where he "completely forgot how to shoot."
As Pompey points out, the Sixers realize trading someone relearning basic shooting mechanics wouldn't return much value. The team is at least confident, though, that he can be an important contributor once that's all figured out.
Philadelphia qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012 without much assistance from Fultz, who saw the floor for a grand total of 23 minutes across three outings in the first round against the Miami Heat.
He averaged 7.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists on 40.5 percent shooting in 18.1 minutes per game during the regular season.