Markelle Fultz to miss next three games

By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Sixers used the first overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft on Markelle Fultz, and just like the Sixers previous four first round picks Fultz will miss time due to injury in his rookie season. 

Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons all missed their entire rookie season, and Jahlil Okafor was shut down at the end of his rookie year with a knee injury. Fortunately, Fultz's missed time appears to be more for maintenance than a severe injury. 

After Fultz received a cortisone shot in his ailing shoulder, the Sixers have announced that he will miss the next three games, beginning with tonight's home game against the Houston Rockets. The Sixers have listed the injury as "right shoulder soreness."

Fultz has drawn criticism from many for his strange decision to alter his shooting form at the start of the season, but he has maintained all along that it was a result of pain in his shoulder, not a change to his fundamentals. 

Fultz reportedly decided to play through the pain but now the Sixers are going to go the safe route and give him some time off to recuperate.

Bryan Colangelo met with the media after shoot-around on Wednesday, indicating there is no structural damage and that Fultz was medically cleared to play. After four games, they will turn to a more conservative approach and sit him in hopes of his shoulder healing and getting back to the form that had him drafted first overall.