Since he arrived to the NBA as the No. 1 pick in 2017 for the
Philadelphia 76ers, there has been so much misreported about
Markelle Fultz.
Fultz went through two tumultuous years of misinformation by the
media and fans, conspiracy theories, unfounded rumors, criticisms
and internet jokes, and he was labeled a bust by people who are
paid a king’s ransom on ESPN — namely Stephen A. Smith, who called
Fultz “the biggest bust in NBA
history.”
But what actually happened is quite the opposite. Fultz wasn’t a
“bust.” He was dealing with an injury that is not only untraceable
by an MRI, but also rarely (or hardly ever) seen in basketball
players. In spite of all that, he was still trying to play through
the pain because of his love for the game of basketball, and it's
something that he does, in fact, regret doing.
I spoke with Fultz on my podcast, "The Rematch," and the
Orlando Magic guard opened up on everything that happened with his
shoulder and finally put all of the incorrect rumors to rest. Below
is a snippet of our conversation:
Etan Thomas: You mentioned your shoulder. You
injured your shoulder, and you initially tried to play through it
and not tell anybody about the injury, right? Am I correct?
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely."
Etan Thomas: So walk me through that process
because people don't really understand how it works sometimes. And
I'm sure the pressure of being No. 1 was a contributing factor to
why you wanted to play through the injury. But walk me through that
process.
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah. Well, a lot of people
just don’t know my love for the game. Growing up in the area I grew
up, you have bumps and bruises. But that's where it becomes a
business, taking care of your body. And me being who I am, loving
the game so much, I feel like, although my shoulder was messed up,
I feel like I can still contribute to the game and help my team
win. So I wanted to go out there and just compete and have fun with
the game. And also, it's my first year. And I think that I did a
poor job of communicating to my agent and my family what I was
feeling, instead of just going out there and trying to compete
without expressing what I was feeling. And all I was doing was
making it worse. But when I realized that certain situations
weren't going my way, I knew I had to speak up, and I had to do
what's best for myself.
"And I think that was the toughest part about it, because I felt
like I could still play and contribute to my team, but I wasn't
myself. I wasn't 100%, and it wasn't what was best for the team. So
I took that time and tried to figure out what was going on. And I
went to go see certain doctors and started that rehab process then.
But I think the biggest thing I learned from that is just taking
care of my body, and communicating what I feel to not only my agent
and my family, but also trainers and stuff like that."
Etan Thomas: So how long were you in pain
before you told anybody?
Markelle Fultz: "Actually, my shoulder started
hurting before training camp [in my rookie year]. But I just
thought it was from how much work I was putting in, from me
shooting so much that my shoulder was just sore. So I tried to work
through it. I'm going in the gym, shooting thousands of shots,
trying to shoot through it. And the whole time, I just continued to
make it worse. But again, the mindset that I had, I'm just trying
to grind. I'm trying to continue to work through these issues, and
not knowing that I'm making it worse. Again, I'm just kind of being
young and being selfish, I would call it, in a sense, not
understanding my body. And I think that was a big part of it. And
again, once I communicated, I started to get the help that I
needed. And I started to work and rehab, and it started to get
better."
Etan Thomas: You mentioned you learned how to
advocate for yourself. I want you to go a little bit more detail
with that. And speak up because still, a lot of people don't really
understand how it works with team trainers and team doctors, and
how a lot of times players have to speak up and advocate for
themselves. Just go into a little bit more detail about that
point.
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah. And this is no knock on
any team or anything like that, but it's a business, at the end of
the day. And sometimes, again, it's a long season, so you have
bumps and bruises. And sometimes, some people play through it, some
people don't. Everybody's body is different. So especially not
knowing a person and not knowing the situation, if you don't
communicate and advocate for yourself, you never know what could
happen. And it can be something as small as your toe hurting. But
what I've learned so much about my body is your body compensates.
And we're so good, as athletes and as humans, that if we're trying
to do something, our body's going to find a way to do it. So it
might not be the right way, but we can do certain stuff and hurt
ourself, in the long run.
"And so my one thing would be: try to be in tune with your body
as much as you can. And [it could be something] as small as your
toenail hurting. I mean, you always get this phrase of 'You're
soft' or you're whatever. But what I've learned is I'd rather
overcommunicate about how my body's feeling and still be able to
work out. I still want to work out, but I'm going to let you know,
'Hey, my big toe's hurting. Hey, my right hamstring is feeling like
this today. My knee's feeling like this.' So they can start to know
that you're caring about your body, and you're documenting certain
stuff, so you don't end up compensating and hurting yourself in the
long run."
Etan Thomas: Yeah, well, it's interesting. You
go to different gyms, and they could be even as young as high
school. And you see phrases on the wall like "Pain is weakness
leaving your body" and stuff like that. And I hate that. I do,
because it puts the wrong mentality into players, to thinking that
them being injured is somehow their fault, like they're not being
tough enough to play through an injury. And I just personally
cannot stand that mentality at all.
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah. And I think that's how I
kind of grew up. Not in a bad way. But growing up, I'm playing
through whatever. I don't want to be soft. I want to show that I'm
tough. But when you get to a certain point where your body is your
brand... Your body is your car, so you need to take care of that
thing like it's a Ferrari. You hear phrases like that, but it's
true. You have to take care of your body.
"You have to get the right recovery. You have to get the right
sleep. If not, it's going to end up hurting you. It might not hurt
you right away, but down the road it can give you certain side
effects. Or you never know, it can lead to something happening
right away. But there are also freak accidents that happen. But I
think that's the one thing that I would recommend to any player at
any age, is just communicating about your body. [That] doesn't mean
that you have to sit out of a drill, but it can start to put an
awareness on people's mind. You can start to document certain
things. And you'll have a better understanding, going forward, of
why you do what you do."
Markelle Fultz’s story is a great example
for all younger players on fighting through adversity, having the
right mentality, ignoring critics and perseverance. His testimony
is something every young athlete should hear. Powerful interview
#TheRematchhttps://t.co/25vHkql1Rjpic.twitter.com/LpHu9jQxfG
Etan Thomas: But I think that sometimes a
player does have to sit down. A player does have to say, "Okay, I
can't go. You're going to talk bad about me. You're going to
tell..." So I use the example a lot with my son about Robert
Griffin III. So when RG III first came to D.C., my son was the
biggest RG III fan on earth. And then I took him to... you know
when they have the open scrimmages? So he met him, and RG III was
cool with him. And they took a picture, and he's been the biggest
RG III fan forever since then. And you remember that game where RG
III was limping out there? And so, I'm watching that game with
Malcolm. And he was like, "Why is he playing? What is he doing?
He's going to injure himself," and so forth. This is what a
young Malcolm is saying.
And sure enough, in fact his entire career, the trajectory of
everything, went downhill from there. And then you saw the trainer
say, "Well, I didn't tell him to go out there." Nobody wanted to
take responsibility. But it should be the trainer's job to tell you
that you are going to hurt yourself more if you continue playing.
And that's the problem that I personally have with a lot of NBA
trainers. I'm not throwing anybody in particular under the bus;
this is a league-wide issue. They're employers of the team, and
they want to do what's best for the team, not what's best for the
player.
Markelle Fultz: "Exactly. And that's where it
comes back to a relationship. So you have to have the certain
people in your corner that's going to always keep it real with you
because at the end of the day, like I said, your body's your brand.
And it's about the longevity. It's different if it's Game 7 in the
playoffs or the championship, and you're sacrificing for that. What
I've also learned is rest is a big part of recovery, and getting
the right amount of rest. Some days you got to go hard, and some
days you have to not do anything at all. I mean, you can do some
light stuff. But I think you hit it right on the head. Some
people’s mind is set for the team. Not everybody has your best
interest [in mind]. You have the best interest for yourself. So I
think that's why it's huge to communicate how you feel to whoever
it is — whether it's your mom, your dad, your trainer, whoever —
and do what you feel is best because you know your body the
best.
"Nobody else can tell you how your body is supposed to feel, how
your body feels at that time. And I think that's where I learned
how to advocate the most for myself. And I've gotten more respect
from a lot of people when I do that. And again, it doesn't mean
you're soft. It's just being smart about certain things. But at the
same time, you do have to push yourself in certain limits to be
able to... It's going to be certain days where you're sore, and you
still have to push through. That's part of it, but it's a
difference between sore and hurt. So just trying to learn... The
sooner you start to communicate certain things, you start to learn
what's pain, and what's okay to work through and what's not to work
through. And that's where I think I've learned the most. I've
learned how to identify what's going on in my body, and understand
what I need to do to make that feel better, or if I need to take
rest or if I need to go get treatment."
Etan Thomas: Yeah. I mean, I always heard the
saying that there's a difference between being injured and hurting.
So sometimes you're going to have to play through being hurting.
That's just part of being an athlete. But being injured, you need
to sit down.
Markelle Fultz: Exactly.
Etan Thomas: So, I want to ask a few specifics.
I remember seeing some videos of you, watching you play and seeing
your different routines on the free-throw line. And I just wanted
to ask: Was that when you was trying to push through it? Was it
part of the rehab? So there was one where you would kind of pat the
ball like this, and then shoot it. And then there were some where
you would go up and it would be kind of like a hitch, kind of. What
exactly was going on?
Markelle Fultz: "Yes. So what a lot of people
don't know is, what TOS (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome) is. It's a
nerve... It's when your nerves are getting pressured on, and you
can start to lose feeling in your hands. So at the time when I was
playing, I still had TOS. I wasn't diagnosed with TOS. I still was
working through certain shoulder stuff. But again, with my love for
the game, I still wanted to be out there.
"And another thing people don't know, TOS is not diagnosed
through a MRI, CAT scan. It's very hard to diagnose TOS, which is a
big part of why, in the beginning, I kind of thought that nothing
was going on. And I just thought it was my shoulder, because when I
got MRIs and I got the scans, I didn't see anything that was going
on. But I had to continue. So I went from shooting 40% in college
to coming into the NBA.... It's so funny, people were like, 'He
changed his shot.' Like, what would I change my shot for? There's
no reason. So that was one of the funniest things that I heard,
then I used to hear all these rumors about me being injured on a
motorcycle, but that's another story."
Etan Thomas: Oh, man! There were so many
different rumors about you... They got the story wrong so many
times. I heard so many different stories.
Markelle Fultz: And that's what was the
funniest thing because to me... I never went out to address it
because I didn't care about that. Again, my main focus was getting
back on the court, doing what I needed to do. But some of the stuff
I used to see, I used to be like, 'Yo, that's crazy that somebody
actually believes that.' But it also taught me another thing: You
can't believe everything you read, right? But yeah. So pretty much
what people didn't know is, so when I was going... The whole thing
on my shoulder, when I would try to shoot, it almost felt like I
had a too-small suit jacket on. So I would go, try to go up, and it
felt like somebody was almost holding my arm there. I would try to
move fast, but I felt like I couldn't move fast. So what I ended up
doing is continue to try to shoot on it. I ended up building up
more and more pressure on my shoulder where I'm not using... where
I'm starting to hinge my shoulder up. I'm starting to use the wrong
muscles, and I'm building bad habits.
"But what people don't understand is I'm out there playing,
still. Still trying to shoot, still doing this. I was still making
free throws. I wasn't very high percentage, but I was still making
free throws. And so the first thing, when I would go up sometimes,
I would lose feeling in my hand. And so, that's the reason I'd
double clutch, because I would get here and I wouldn't feel like
the ball was in my hand. But when I'd come up, my feeling would
come back because the way it is — when I'm going through a certain
motion — my muscles are pushing on my nerve, which is cutting my
feeling off. And when I go through, it releases off the nerve, and
that's when I would get my feeling back. So when I would do the
double clutch, it was because when I would get here, I wouldn't
feel the ball in my hand. So it was no way I was shooting if I
don't feel like the ball [was] in my hand.
"So I would go up a little bit and it would come back, so I
would just come from here and shoot the ball. And so when I went to
practice, I'm like, 'Alright, that's not working, so let me try
something else.' So another thing I tried to do was, this wouldn't
have me holding the ball. So the desensitization of just moving the
ball back and forth until I get into where I get feeling, which is
right here, then I can just shoot. I was fine shooting from here.
If I had just caught the ball here and shot up, it was perfectly
fine. So that was why I went to that because I was just trying to
be more efficient at the free-throw line. I didn't care what people
were saying. I was just trying to get my flow in. So when I got to
where I needed to go, I can just shoot the ball fine. But again,
that was another realization of me compensating. And I said,
'Markelle Fultz, you don't need to compensate. You need to get
healthy.'
"And another instance where I talked to my agent, I just told
him I have no problem playing. I just feel like I want to be myself
so I can just go out there and play without thinking, just playing
my game, be who I am. And so, that's where it kind of went from.
But just a lot of repetition of shooting the wrong way, it just
builds bad habits and it builds your muscle memory wrong. And so,
that was the biggest thing, trying to get back to... And I'm still
working on it now. It's something I'm always going to have to work
on. It's just trying to get my brain to process the ball being over
my head the same way. And it's something that is a everyday grind,
but I'm enjoying it. I feel way more comfortable now, and I feel
the improvement. And again, I know my body, so I know what I need
to work on.
Listen to the full episode of Markelle Fultz on The Rematch
here.