Should 76ers be concerned over Markelle Fultz’s shoulder?

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown recently commented on how he believes Markelle Fultz’s shoulder is bothering him more than expected.

In a little over a week, the Philadelphia 76ers will kickoff their 2017-18 season on the road in what is always a difficult matchup against the Washington Wizards with expectations at a whole new level when seeing the young talent Brett Brown has to work with. From Ben Simmons finally being healthy enough to play to Joel Embiid recently earning a hefty extension, a team like the Sixers isn’t used to seeing this much excitement at the start of a season.

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Not to mention, all eyes will be on rookie Markelle Fultz after Philadelphia traded up in this year’s NBA Draft to acquire the former Washington star to give this team the point guard they need to hopefully hit a whole new level. But with Fultz appearing to deal with a shoulder injury, it’s tough for Sixers fans not to wonder what type of impact the 19-year-old rookie will be able to make next week, if any at all.

As John Clark pointed out on Tuesday, Fult’z shooting form from the free-throw line is completely different than normal, and even Brown recently made a comment that makes it seem like the rookie doesn’t want to believe just how much his shoulder is truly bothering him. Sure, Fultz deserves credit for wanting to play, and who whatever it takes to fight through the injury, but at the end of the day, Philadelphia doesn’t want to take a walk down the path of having another one of their big rookies suffer a long-term injury.

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With an upcoming game for the Sixers scheduled on Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets, here’s to hoping Fultz ends up sitting out on this one. Because at the end of the day, it is still preseason, and Fultz should be more concerned about being healthy enough to make an impact when it matters the most for Philadelphia during the actual regular season.