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Inside The Huskies

Ex-Husky Fultz Returns to NBA From the Game's Shadows

The former No. 1 draft pick has been bouncing around pro basketball.
Dan Raley|
Then Magic guard Markelle Fultz (20) drives to the basket against Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) in the 2024 playoffs.
Then Magic guard Markelle Fultz (20) drives to the basket against Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) in the 2024 playoffs. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Becoming the 2017 NBA No. 1 draft pick was supposed to provide Markelle Fultz with something akin to basketball immortality.

Job security, unlimited.

A place in a special fraternity, no less.

Instead, the 6-foot-4 former University of Washington multi-purpose guard finds himself doing whatever he can survive the rigors of the pro game, emerging on Monday with a 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors.

It's been 11 months since he last pulled on an NBA uniform, when he was with the Sacramento Kings for 21 games.

In fact, Fultz hasn't experienced sufficient basketball greatness since he played as a freshman for Lorenzo Romar's 2017 Husky team and averaged 23.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists.

He was named first-team All-Pac-12 and third-team All-American.

Huskies guard Markelle Fultz (20) gets double teamed by UCLA's Isaac Hamilton, left, and forward Ike Anigbogu in 2017.
Huskies guard Markelle Fultz (20) gets double teamed by UCLA's Isaac Hamilton, left, and forward Ike Anigbogu in 2017. | Jennifer Buchanan-Imagn Images

Former UW assistant coach Raphael Chilious, who came through Alaska Airlines Arena with Utah in December, was responsible for bringing Fultz to Seattle from Maryland, with this Husky signing considered a program coup.

Fultz was a 5-star prospect, ESPN's No. 22 player in its Top 100 and a McDonald's All-American for schoolboy powerhouse DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Maryland. He chose the UW over Arizona and Louisville.

The initial plan in Montlake was Fultz would team with 6-foot-4 guard Dejounte Murray and 6-foot-9 big man Marquese Chriss, who were coming off their freshmen seasons in 2016 but declared for the NBA Draft.

For a 19-15 NIT team, Murray averaged 16.1 points and 6 rebounds an outing, while Chriss averaged 13.7 points and 5.4 rebounds. Chriss was drafted eighth overall, Murray 29th.

"I think we would have been the No. 1 team in the country," Fultz said had they played together.

Lately the guard finds himself on the peripheral of the NBA as he joins his fourth team in nine seasons.

Injuries and possibly the mental residue that comes with them have stalled his career over time.

Notably, he suffered a shoulder injury early on that seemed to change everything for him, including his shooting form, confidence and, of course, his stature in the game.

Fultz, 27, recently played five games with the Raptors 905 G League team in what amounted to another basketball audition.

He'll join Toronto's big-league team with 255 regular-season games under his belt.

Fultz has had just one strong pro season, when he averaged 14 points and 5.7 assists a game in 2023 while shooting 51.4 percent from the field for the Orlando Magic.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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