Markelle Fultz Is Well On His Way To A Hall Of Fame Finesse Career

While it felt a little weird that the Orlando Magic traded for Markelle Fultz last season only to see him play a total of 0 seconds during the year, and then 0 seconds in Summer League, if there was any question as to if they were all in on Fultz or not that’s been pretty much answered with this decision. If you look at their cap situation this was basically a no brainer move by them, with DJ Augustin in the last year of his deal, and honestly if Fultz actually shows some legit potential this season, a salary of $12.5M for next year could end up being a bargain. The Magic are over the cap no matter what next summer even if they didn’t pick up Fultz’s option so what’s the big deal, you may as well go all in.

To this day, the Markelle Fultz situation is still one of the weirdest NBA stories in recent memory. How does a #1 pick forget how to shoot? Is he injured, is he not injured, he’s healthy but not playing, the whole thing is bizarre. Now there have been some clips to hit the internet this summer that show his jumper is in fact looking like someone who actually has played basketball before

which is an improvement over what we saw in PHI that’s for sure. Honestly I’m rooting for Fultz to figure this shit out, mostly because he was so fun to watch in college but also because if you look at the Magic’s roster they are loaded with really young intriguing talent.

Markelle Fultz: 21 years old
Mo Bamba: 21 years old
Aaron Gordon: 24 years old
Jonathan Isaac: 21 years old

Granted all of these dudes outside of Aaron Gordon are still extremely raw and unproven, but you combine them with Nikola Vucevic/Terrance Ross/Evan Fournier and that’s certainly not all that terrible if these young guys make any sort of progression. This team did win 42 games last year and made the playoffs so it appears like they are headed in the right direction, and now securing their next point guard for at least the next two seasons tells you the Magic believe Fultz can actually contribute.

But for a guy that’s only played in 33 games, almost all of which have been a disaster, nobody knows. The one thing we do know is at the very least Fultz is having himself an impressive finesse career. That’s the beauty of being the #1 pick I suppose, you’re first three years are guaranteed at $7, $8M, and $9M, and without showing a damn thing he just guaranteed himself another $12M. Now the real question will come in 2021-22 when Fultz has a Qualifying Offer of $15.9M. The Magic can extend that so he enters restricted free agency, or if he proves to actually not be able to play at this level, he’ll most likely hit the market as an UFA. You may think that’s a lot of money, but remember Terry Rozier makes $19M a year. If you’re a young point guard and you show promise, you can get yourself more than $15M a year.

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I honestly have no idea when we’re expected to see Fultz back on the court, hopefully this preseason because honestly the Magic could very well compete for that 6-8 seed again this year, and if Fultz is actually going to be a playable asset, that does raise their floor just a little bit. Especially if he can return to this