Fultz makes National Basketball Association history as the first Washington Husky to go No. 1.
The Philadelphia 76ers selected Fultz with the top pick Thursday night at Barclays Center, doing so less than a week after acquiring the pick from the Boston Celtics.
The Los Angeles Lakers had the second pick in the draft and took UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball.
Known for his all around offensive ability and athleticism, Fultz starred in his lone year at the University of Washington, averaging 23 points per game, along with more than five rebounds and five assists. Fultz shot 47.6 percent from the field, made 41.3 percent of his 3-point attempts, reached double figures 24 times and set a school record for points by a freshman with 579.
Fultz was a dynamic scorer while playing his college ball at Washington.
Fultz was a bit of a late bloomer, failing to make his high school's varsity team his freshman and sophomore years. The team sent its first-round choice, which wound up being Number 22, to the Brooklyn Nets at the trade deadline in a swap that sent Bojan Bogdanovic to the Wizards.
76ers take Markelle Fultz with No. 1 pick in 2017 National Basketball Association draft
The 1.93m guard became the second consecutive number one overall pick by Philadelphia, following forward Ben Simmons a year ago. Thibodeau has enough young players in Minnesota and wanted a veteran like he had during his successful run coaching the Bulls .
Victory typically eluded the Huskies last season, despite Fultz's once-in-a-generation talent.
Still, apparently Fultz was prepared for anything to happen.
The trio could be the core of the next championship team in Philly, and Fultz - who hails from Maryland - is buying into "The Process".
"We need Ben at point guard", Brown said of Simmons towards the end of last season.
At 6-foot-6 (1.98 m), Ball plays a style that harkens back to the "Showtime" days of the Lakers, dishing off no-look passes, launching threes and finishing at the hoop with rim-jarring slam dunks.
Widely reviled and also admired, the Sixers' plan to go from worst-to-first by openly stripping the roster bare of talent to lose and gobble draft picks has resulted in Joel Embiid, Simmons and now Fultz.
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