Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge sent shock waves through the basketball world when he flipped the number-one pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the Philadelphia 76ers for the third pick and the rights to future picks. The trade was nearly unprecedented in that teams rarely ever trade the number one pick. It was even crazier because there was such a clear-cut consensus at No. 1 in point guard Markelle Fultz. After making an unexpected playoff push, many Celtics fans were drooling at the thought of pairing Fultz with Isaiah Thomas. Now we'll never know what that combination might have accomplished, but Fultz is clearly not losing sleep over it. The number-one pick wrote about his whirlwind draft experience on The Players' Tribune yesterday, and gave a surprising reason why he was excited to be playing in Philly. The morning of the Ainge trade, Fultz's agent woke him up with a text saying, "New plan. Philly."Fultz shot back a text saying, "O.K., cool. Do they have Chick-fil-A there?"Apparently the Georgia fried chicken chain is a big deal in the Fultz household. "A crispy chicken sandwich for breakfast," Fultz wrote. "It’s kind of like my good luck charm. Keith never got back to me about that important question. So I found out for myself. I googled it immediately. Philly does have Chick-fil-A. It has six, actually. Seven if you count the one at the airport. Boston has zero Chick-fil-As, for what it’s worth."Other NBA cities, take note. If you want to attract elite talent, first make sure you have a Chick-fil-A in town. Fultz is clearly a huge fan of processed chicken, but by the looks of it he's also a fan of The Process.
A few days before the draft, the Sixers posted a picture of Fultz posing with fellow lottery picks Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and shooting guard Robert Covington following a workout.
Embiid - who Fultz is already calling 'Mayor Embiid' - was quick to come up with a catchy nickname for the group of young stars.
Paired with Dario Saric's passing ability, Embiid's inside presence, and Simmon's deadly shooting, Fultz could not have asked for a better situation start his career in.
The Sixers might not steamroll the Eastern Conference this season, but this young core is going to be fun to watch if nothing else.