Fultz out for remainder of summer with sprained ankle
The summer league season is over for Markelle Fultz.
The Sixers shut Fultz down after the overall No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the third quarter of the team’s 95-93 victory over the Golden State Warriors in the Las Vegas Summer League Saturday night.
The 6-4 guard had to be helped off the court by two teammates and was taken back to the team hotel for treatment, according to published reports. X-rays were negative. Fultz was diagnosed with a lateral sprain of the left ankle and is expected to miss one to two weeks, according to a news release sent out by the team early Sunday afternoon.
Fultz beat the team to the punch.
“I’m OK,” Fultz tweeted a few minutes before the Sixers sent out its release. “Thank you for all who were worried!”
Considering the Sixers’ injury history with its recent first-round picks, the concern was understandable. Center Joel Embiid missed two seasons with a broken navicular bone in his right foot after the Sixers took him with the third pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
After playing in 31 of the team’s first 45 games last season, Embiid was shut down for the year with a torn meniscus in his left knee shortly before the all-star break.
Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 pick in the 2015 draft, missed the final 23 games of his rookie season with a torn meniscus in his right knee. The 6-11 center-forward sat out the final 11 games of the 2016-17 season with soreness in his right knee.
The injury bug continued to plague the Sixers when Ben Simmons, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, missed the entire season after he fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot in the final training camp scrimmage.
“Oh no no no …” Embiid tweeted shortly after Fultz went down, “don’t do this to us.”
The scary moment came with 8:27 left in the third quarter of Saturday’s game against the Warriors. He rolled his left ankle as he jumped in a failed attempt to block a layup by Golden State’s Jabari Brown. Fultz crumpled to the floor and immediately grabbed the ankle. Fultz stayed on the floor for more than a minute before he was helped off the court and taken to the locker room.
Guard-forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot also was injured on the play. He took an elbow to the mouth and also had to leave the game.
Sixers coach Brett Brown was in the stands at the Thomas & Mack Center and had a look of concern on his face.
“I’m a little punch-drunk with the injuries that we’ve had with our first players selected over the years,” Brown told ESPN.
Fultz had eight points, two rebounds and one assist at the time of the injury. He averaged 16 points, three rebounds and 2.3 assists in three summer league games. Futz shot 40.9 percent overall and 37.5 percent from 3-point range during summer-league play.