What Happened to Markelle Fultz? The Top NBA Draft Pick With a Broken Shot

If you’ve ever spent any time among NBA fans on Reddit or other social media platforms, you’ve probably seen the question come up a time or two. What happened to Markelle Fultz? Now, this isn’t exactly a new question. It, however, is a mystery that still eats at fans.

Markelle wasn’t just good — he was supposed to be great. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. A tall, smooth point guard who could score from anywhere. At the University of Washington, he hit pull-up jumpers with ease and looked like a future star. Suddenly, without warning, something changed. He couldn’t shoot at all.

What really stumps NBA fans about Markelle is that his shooting form didn’t just get worse — it vanished. Suddenly, he couldn’t make shots he had always made with ease. The ball started coming off his hand in strange ways. Nothing about the way he was playing looked right.

Fans, coaches, even teammates were confused. Some people thought it was mental. Maybe the pressure got to him. Maybe he had the yips. Not everyone was ready to write him off as a case of the yips, though. On Reddit, one user wrote, “He literally can’t do what he used to — it’s not up to him.” Another added, “Players don’t forget how to shoot. His body just doesn’t let him anymore.”

They weren’t wrong. According to a detailed feature on Markelle from The Ringer, he was eventually diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, or TOS. It’s a rare nerve condition that affects movement and muscle control. It can make basic motions feel unfamiliar. For a shooter, it’s a nightmare.

That early stretch in Philadelphia was brutal. Markelle didn’t have a diagnosis, and he didn’t have answers. His mechanics changed. His confidence dropped. Fans and media started labeling him a bust almost immediately. He was still young and a rookie, but the pressure was overwhelming.

Looking back, Markelle told The Ringer, “I think a lot of people have kind of forgotten about me. But I believe in the work, and I know I still have a lot of time.”

It’s a calm response, but you can feel the weight behind it. He was picked first overall, expected to be the missing piece next to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. So, it weighed heavily on so many when he suddenly couldn’t hit a free throw.

The Sixers traded Markelle to the Orlando Magic in 2019. By that point, a lot of people had already moved on. For Markelle, it was a chance to reset.

In Orlando, the pressure was off. The Magic were rebuilding. There were no national TV games. No loud media noise. Just time to work. And he did. He slowly got healthy. He rebuilt his shot. He figured out how to play the game again with the body he has now — not the one he had before the injury.

Orlando head coach Jamahl Mosley told The Ringer that Markelle became a connector — a player who doesn’t need the spotlight but makes the team better. He defends, he passes, he controls the pace. He’s not flashy, but he matters.

To move forward, Markelle had to stop chasing the player he used to be and start embracing the player he had become. Once he accepted that, he was able to find himself again.