ATLANTA, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 26: Markelle Fultz #20 of the Orlando Magic is charged with an offensive foul as he drives into Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena on February 26, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Through 64 games played before the coronavirus pandemic halted NBA play, Orlando Magic lead guard, Markelle Fultz was averaging 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game in his first season in Florida.
Fultz has been deceptively quick on the basketball floor and his playing with a surge of confidence.
The Philadelphia 76ers‘ first overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft has turned heads this season especially when he messed around and got a triple double in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers back in January
What’s more notable is that Fultz went toe-to-toe with the game’s best player, LeBron James.
Markelle Fultz put LeBron in a blender
Fultz notched a 21 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists outing against LA LA Land and the Magic got the win.
So what’s the secret to Markelle Fultz’s success? On a recent episode of the Scoop B Radio, I checked in with Yahoo Sports’ Keith Smith.
Million Dollar Question: Are you sold on him?
“I’m not going to go as far as sold,” Smith told the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“But, I’m so happy to see him play period. He’s really played well for the Magic and I know love him. They loved him from the minute they traded for him. They thought the kid was a worker, motivated to get back and anytime he talked; which was very, very rare during his rehab period and was only made available a couple times and was very consistent and was like, ‘I want to prove to people that I can play and I’m working really hard to get back on the court’… we spoke to him at media day, I don’t know – you know how it is on media day. Players at media day a lot of times are like, ‘We gotta go through with this? Let’s get it done’…he [Markelle] was happy! He was like, “Let’s do this! Let’s talk! I can’t tell you how ready I am to go!” so that was really, really cool to see and just to watch his development. He’s really grown into the floor leader for his team; which is what you want out of your point guard. I think that he’s went far and beyond the expectations that anybody had for him. Because I think their hope was, maybe by the end of the year, he was looking like he can take over for D.J. Augustin as a starter at that point and it five to six games in the season and he took over the starting role and he’s held on to it and did quite well. So I’m really, really excited for him.”