Markelle Fultz Seems Very Open To Playing With Isaiah Thomas, Celtics

The Boston Celtics could face an interesting dilemma this summer if the ping-pong balls bounce their way.

The Celtics have the best chance of earning the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft thanks to the moribund Brooklyn Nets. But the consensus top pick, Washington’s Markelle Fultz, happens to play the same position as Boston’s franchise player, point guard Isaiah Thomas.

That would appear to leave the Celtics in a pickle: draft Fultz and risk pushing Thomas out the door, or pass on a guy who has the potential to be a generational NBA talent.

Yet what if Fultz and Thomas could coexist? In a feature for Sports Illustrated published Tuesday, author Andrew Sharp revealed Fultz and Thomas, a Tacoma, Wash., native who also played college ball at Washington, have maintained a close friendship since working out together this summer. And yes, they’ve discussed teaming up together in Boston.

“I’ve talked to him a lot,” Fultz told Sharp, via SI.com. “(My family and I) always talk about the opportunity. That would be the craziest backcourt. The way he scores, the way I can pass, and the way I can score. … We can switch between the one and two.”

Thomas gushed about Fultz back in March and believes the 18-year-old will be the first player taken in the draft, so they share plenty of mutual admiration. And it sounds like Fultz is willing to adapt so he and Thomas can occupy the same backcourt together for years to come — assuming, of course, the Celtics’ ping-pong balls bounce their way.