Lauri Markkanen is reminding numerous followers how nice he’s along with his EuroBasket performances, however he’s additionally pushing again on a preferred narrative.
Lauri Markkanen has struggled to placed on the kind of performances he did through the 2022-23 NBA season, the place he earned his first All-Star nomination.
With the Utah Jazz attempting to tank the previous couple of years, they’ve successfully neutralized Markkanen in order that he doesn’t get in the best way of their rebuilding course of.
However throughout this EuroBasket event, we have now been reminded of the huge potential Markkanen has. Many followers even questioned if Markkanen is losing away on the Utah Jazz with the best way he’s taking part in.
And after his newest victory with Finland, a number of critics of Markkanen previous to their recreation towards Serbia have been confirmed fallacious.
Markkanen acquired off to a scorching begin at EuroBasket from Day 1, dropping 28 factors in Finland’s opening fixture towards Sweden.
Nevertheless, a lot of his critics claimed that he was placing up such sturdy numbers as a result of the extent of competitors wasn’t as excessive as it might be within the NBA, and he would battle to take action towards high quality competitors.
However as Markkanen helped remove Nikola Jokic and Serbia, whom many thought-about the favorites to win the event, it has grow to be clear that Markkanen’s run was no fluke.
Enjoying towards Nikola Jokic and a number of other present and former NBA stars, Markkanen delivered a robust efficiency, placing up 29 factors and rebounds to get the win.
Markkanen is at the moment averaging 26 factors per recreation at EuroBasket, making him the third-leading scorer within the event behind Giannis Antetokounmpo (30 PPG) and Luka Doncic (34 PPG).
Any criticism of Markkanen not delivering towards the massive groups in EuroBasket ought to be reserved for if and when he fails to take action.
Regardless of his sturdy performances this summer time, don’t count on Lauri Markkanen to remodel the Utah Jazz right into a aggressive NBA staff.
The Jazz are nonetheless going to be of their rebuilding section. After the Jazz surprisingly landed Ace Bailey within the NBA Draft, they haven’t any plans to cease looking for out younger stars.
Brian Windhorst expects the Jazz to commerce Lauri Markkanen, as they appear to proceed tanking to maximise their draft potential.
If something, Markkanen’s sturdy performances will assist the Jazz leverage a fair increased asking value for the Finnish celebrity.
