SALT LAKE CITY — It would have been easy to give up on Lauri Markkanen. In fact, the Chicago Bulls, who drafted him at No. 7 in 2017, did just that when they traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2021.
It would have been easy to label Markkanen as a draft bust of an early lottery pick. In his fourth NBA season, people did that when Markkanen played in 51 games, started only 26, averaged a career-low 13.6 points per game and found himself on the move.
GO DEEPERMarkkanen, Jazz reach long-term extensionOn Wednesday, Markkanen signed the most lucrative deal in the history of the Utah Jazz franchise, a renegotiation-and-extension worth $238 million over five years according to league sources. He’s earned every penny of it, and he’s done so after a rough start to his NBA career.
🇫🇮 First-time All-Star
🇫🇮 NBA Most Improved Player
🇫🇮 Finland’s Athlete of the Yearand he’s just getting started.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑 is here to stay 📍🏔️#TakeNote | @MarkkanenLauri pic.twitter.com/gdQZTr03MB
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) August 7, 2024
The credit for this is twofold. It goes to Markkanen for working tirelessly on his skill set, for getting his body into peak shape, for finding a way to reinvent himself at a young age and for being resilient enough to find confidence in himself as an NBA player.
It goes to the Jazz for making him their centerpiece to a deal for Donovan Mitchell, for giving him the runway and the green light to become an All-Star starter in his first season with the franchise, for seeing wrinkles and aspects of his game he hadn’t shown in Chicago and Cleveland, for encouraging him to flex his proverbial muscles as a leader, for providing him the space to play to his many offensive strengths.
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The Markkanen we see is the version of Markkanen that made him such a sought-after recruit coming out of Finland: a versatile 7-footer capable of not only stretching the floor but playing all over it. In my opinion, he’s a second option on a championship-level team, one of the easiest star-level players in the league to fit next to and a guy who should be able to stay at his current level for an extended number of years. Even if he appears to be on a different timeline from most of the Jazz roster, his monster contract extension was an easy place to get to.
Whether or not the Jazz win a lot of games this season, Markkanen is good for the roster, on and off the floor. He gives Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, Cody Williams and the rest of the younger players a peek at what can happen when talent meets an exemplary work ethic. He gives Walker Kessler, Kyle Filipowski, Brice Sensabaugh and the rest of the younger players a peek into what can happen when you meet adversity, shake it off and keep moving. When Markkanen was traded to Cleveland three years ago, few could have foreseen his current success. He averaged 25.6 points and almost 8.6 rebounds per game in Year 1 with the Jazz. He averaged 23.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per night last season.
He has been an almost 40 percent 3-point shooter for the last two seasons, on about eight attempts per night. He’s done this against defenses geared to stop him.
What Markkanen is today is a cautionary tale. We live in a hot-take world, and basketball is no different. If you draft a rookie, and he doesn’t break out by the end of his first contract, the overwhelming instinct is to cast him aside as a player. That, in large part, is what happened with Markkanen.
In reality, players develop at their own pace, and a lot of their development is out of their control. That’s the luck part. So many careers have failed because players have been in the wrong situation. Markkanen was a victim of that in Chicago. His one season in Cleveland established him as a good role player capable of contributing to winning.
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But Markkanen was fortunate to get traded to the Jazz. First, and foremost, Utah general manager Justin Zanik saw a lot more in Markkanen than he had shown to that point. As a result, Markkanen was a target for the Jazz as an asset return when they traded Mitchell to Cleveland. Secondly, Utah head coach Will Hardy used Markkanen in a way no team had previously.
Hardy put Markkanen on the move within Utah’s offense. He brought him off screens. He ran plays for him. He had Markkanen setting screens and playing as the roll man to the basket. He unlocked Markkanen’s game and skill unlike any of his previous two stops. When Markkanen was in Cleveland, the Cavaliers played him at small forward in a jumbo lineup that featured Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. And that gave Markkanen the ability to grab rebounds and start transition off the dribble. Cleveland definitely gets credit for that.
“Lauri pysyy Utahissa” sure has a nice ring to it 😌🇫🇮💜#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/vjJXgK9IW7
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) August 7, 2024
But the Jazz gave Markkanen the space to become the player he is today. It’s one of the reasons Markkanen expressed desire to stay in Utah, when it became clear this summer a trade was at least a possibility.
The best thing the Jazz can do this season is give plenty of playing time to the younger players on the roster. Markkanen is going to be the centerpiece. But two things happen, if the young guys are given priority. The Jazz either lose a lot, which puts them in play for a top-10 pick in next year’s NBA Draft. Or they win more than expected, but they are winning primarily because of the younger players. And that would be a good thing.
Markkanen’s example is one of a player who’s overcome early career setbacks to reach a star level, and we don’t see his development curve that often. But he’s an example of a team taking a chance on a guy, then betting on his potential and then watching him realize his potential. More than anything, Markkanen’s example gives the younger players a high bar to clear, a teammate that’s fought through multiple roadblocks to get to where he currently is. The Jazz need that in their locker room, and Markkanen provides it.
That’s one of the real wins from Markkanen’s signing. Now, he and the Jazz will move forward and head into a season in which the franchise continues to build, and does so with its star player.
(Photo: Fernando Medina / NBAE via Getty Images)
Tony Jones is a Staff Writer at The Athletic covering the Utah Jazz and the NBA. A native of the East Coast and a journalism brat as a child, he has an addiction to hip-hop music and pickup basketball, and his Twitter page has been used for occasional debates concerning Biggie and Tupac. Follow Tony on Twitter @Tjonesonthenba
