The Philadelphia 76ers have selected guard Markelle Fultz with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
Fultz averaged 23.2 points last season at Washington, tops among freshmen, and added 5.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game, the only Division I player to reach those stats. He walked across the stage Thursday night at Barclays Center wearing red sneakers made of basketballs.
Washington’s Markelle Fultz in action against Arizona in an NCAA
college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017, in Seattle. (AP Photo/
Elaine Thompson)
The 76ers had the No. 1 pick for the second straight year after trading with the Boston Celtics on Monday. Now they add Fultz to a promising young core that includes Rookie of the Year finalists Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, plus Ben Simmons, the top pick from last year who sat out all season with a foot injury.
For Markelle Fultz, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
In keeping with that theme, he showed off the inside of his grey suit jacket after the Philadelphia 76ers picked him first in Thursday night’s NBA draft.
There were about a dozen pictures of friends and family along with his slogan F2G, which means “Faithful to the Grind.”
Fultz said it’s the pictures of the things that mean the most to him.
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