Markelle Fultz Tears ACL, Done For Season

Recently-extended Magic starting point guard Markelle Fultz is set to miss the rest of the 2020/21 season after tearing the ACL in his left knee, Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. Fultz suffered the injury during the first quarter of tonight’s 105-96 defeat of the Cavaliers. Fultz’s three-year, $50MM contract extension will kick in during the 2021/22 season.

This is quite a blow for the Magic. Fultz will join the club’s fellow injured 2017 lottery draftee Jonathan Isaac on the sidelines for the duration of the 2020/21 season. Isaac received an $80MM extension of his own ahead of the season, all of which he is set to miss as a result of his own torn left ACL, which he incurred during the 2020 NBA playoffs this past August.

Fultz was selected with the No. 1 pick by the Sixers in the 2017 NBA draft. After various shoulder injuries limited the 6’3″ guard to just 33 games across his first two seasons, Philadelphia traded a still-injured Fultz to the Magic ahead of the 2019 deadline.

Fultz was available for 72 of Orlando’s 73 games during the subsequent 2019/20 season, and developed into a reliable, athletic starter for the playoff-bound Orlando.

In 27.7 MPG, he averaged 12.1 PPG (on 46.5% shooting from the field), 5.1 APG, 3.3 RPG and 1.3 SPG. This season, Fultz was averaging 14.3 PPG, 6.1 APG, 3.6 RPG, and 1.0 SPG during the Magic’s first seven games.

With Fultz sidelined, Michael Carter-Williams and rookie Cole Anthony figure to see more minutes at the point this season. Both of Orlando’s two-way players – Jordan Bone and Karim Mane – are point guards as well.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

View Comments (28)