Philadelphia 76ers: Stephen A. Smith calls Markelle Fultz pathetic

After avoiding questions about his shoulder from the media, Stephen A. Smith called out Philadelphia 76ers point guard Markelle Fultz.

In case you haven’t heard, Markelle Fultz finally made his return to the Philadelphia 76ers active roster in the team’s recent 123-104 victory over the Denver Nuggets, and he did so in the best possible way.

After missing 68 straight games due to a shoulder injury, a broken shot, and some truly bizarre rehab techniques, Fultz reannounced himself to the league in commanding fashion by putting up 10 points, eight assists and four rebounds and boy was it fun to watch.

But for how exciting he was to watch on the court, Fultz turned even more head in his post-game press conference.

When asked, understandably, by the media about his nagging shoulder injury, the first overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft visibly ignored their questions, exuding an air of arrogance that will surely rub some people the wrong way.

And one person who really didn’t like how Fultz handled his first media appearance in months was former Philadelphia pundit and current ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.

On his show First Take, Smith verbally defamed Fultz’s character, calling him an entitled fool, and essentially warning him not to make enemies with the notoriously tough Philadelphia media.

You can watch the entire segment here.

While we may never know if Fultz was explicitly told not to talk about his shoulder by the team’s coaching staff or front office, his decision to avoid questions with a smile on his face was fairly unsettling, even for a player who had just put on a show after six months away from the game.

Say what you will about the interesting sound bites said by Joel Embiid or even Sixers all-time great Allen Iverson, but neither player ever shied away from making headlines, even when the quotes were extremely meme-worthy.

If you’re presently reading this, you obviously know just how passionate Philly fans are about their sports teams, and one thing a Philly fan can smell from a mile away is a phony. This is a blue-collar city that lives or dies by its sports teams and truly values players who share that hardworking mentality, and if Fultz is going to endear himself into the hearts of Philly fans, he’s going to have to check his privilege at the door.

Next: Is reincorporating Markelle Fultz a mistake?

No one is going to question whether or not Fultz is immensely talented, and in a few years, he may actually live up to the James Harden comparisons he received during the pre-draft process, but if he continued to exude a me-first attitude moving forward one thing is clear: Philly fans are going to tear him apart.