Skip to content
Sixers
Link copied to clipboard

Markelle Fultz not expected to return this season, Magic’s Steve Clifford says

The former first overall pick has been rehabbing in Los Angeles, and hasn't been in Orlando since his introductory press conference after the trade deadline.

Markelle Fultz celebrates with his team in January, before he was traded.
Markelle Fultz celebrates with his team in January, before he was traded.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

Markelle Fultz headed straight to Los Angeles after his introductory news conference in Orlando to continue rehabbing and Magic coach Steve Clifford does not expect for the former No. 1 pick to return this season.

“He hasn’t been with us,” Clifford said after the Magic’s Tuesday morning shootaround at the Wells Fargo Center. “He literally came in and did the press conference and, until he gets his shoulder strength, he won’t be with us.”

While Clifford said that there is no set timetable and that the team is waiting for Fultz to be 100 percent healed, he did offer a little more on Monday on the Sirius XM NBA Radio show.

“It would be very difficult for him to get back this year,” Clifford said Monday.

The Magic have kept in constant contact with Fultz and have their own staff in Los Angeles to track his progress but Clifford said that Fultz hasn’t been able to do much on the court.

Fultz, traded to the Magic by the 76ers at the trade deadline, hasn’t played since Nov. 19. He was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome shortly after.

“We’re always thinking about Markelle, we truly wish him well,” Brett Brown said Tuesday before the Sixers faced the Magic. “I hope he can resurface. I believe he will, and reclaim some of the expectations that he has on himself and the marketplace has for him.”

Familiar faces

Jonathon Simmons, acquired by the Sixers from Orlando in the trade for Fultz, saw his former team for the first time since the trade on Tuesday.

Clifford said that surgery to repair a ligament in Simmons’ right wrist in April of 2018 made it difficult for him to get back into a rhythm when the 2018-19 season started. Though he averaged more than 20 minutes per game, he missed training camp, which Clifford said made things difficult.

Even with the injury and significant drop in three-point efficiency, Simmons’ former teammates said he was always a positive presence that is missed in the Orlando locker room.

“He brings a lot of energy," Evan Fournier said. “It’s been a tough season for him coming back after that surgery. He’s really good at drawing fouls, tough defensively, that’s a great pickup by the Sixers. Off the court he’s a great guy, always making jokes and he came from the Spurs so he has that kind of experience, he knows what he’s talking about. We miss him for sure.”