After a breakout 2022-23 NBA season that saw Lauri Markkanen take home the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year award and become a first-time All-Star, many wondered what sort of encore he would provide the following season.
Was his season two years ago a fluke, and would that be exposed? Or would Markkanen prove that he's among the top players in the league with another impressive season?
It turns out that Markkanen's breakout year was no fool’s gold. Although his numbers weren't precisely the same as last season's, he averaged 23.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists while at the top of the scouting report, which is just as impressive.
"We do want Lauri to be more of an overall threat. … It's something that he's worked a lot on," head coach Will Hardy said. "Inside the three-point line, I think because of his size and physicality, he's shown more comfort playing one-on-one there. It's still a work in progress. … He's really doing a good job in terms of his growth, reading different defenses."
Although it would've been tough to top Markkanen's individual success two seasons ago, he came close this past year.
He entered the NBA record books just a week into the season, becoming the NBA's all-time leader for most career games by a 7-footer with at least five made threes. He later earned his first Western Conference Player of the Week when he received the honor for games played from Monday, Jan. 8, through Sunday, Jan. 14. As the Jazz climbed back into the playoff picture during a monster stretch in December/January, Markkanen led them to a perfect 4-0 record that week with victories over Milwaukee, Denver, Toronto, and Los Angeles. He averaged 24.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks on 48.1% from three.
But arguably, the highlight of his season came in early January when he was named Finland's 2023 Athlete of the Year.
The most prestigious sports award in the country, the Association of Sports Journalists (Finland), has been awarded the title of Athlete of the Year since 1947. A shortlist of 10 names is compiled, and association members with a press card can vote. Of the 5.5 million people in the country, it's estimated that 1 million of them tuned into the Finnish Sports Gala on television. Markkanen became the first basketball player to ever win the award.
"It was really cool," Markkanen said about winning. "It's a really prestigious award in Finnish sports. Not a lot of team sport athletes have gotten it. … Just knowing what kind of athletes from across all the sports that Finland produces, just being on the list makes it more meaningful."
Markkanen proved to be one of the game's most efficient scorers, shooting 48.0% from the field, 39.0% from three (on 8.0 attempts per game), and 89.9% from the free-throw line. He joined Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving as the only players in the NBA to post that slash line while averaging 23+ points per game.
Despite Markkanen's continued brilliance, the Jazz fell short of their goal of making the postseason. They'll now enter an important offseason where the word "fluidity" is preached. Fluidity to make any move they deem necessary that will help bring an NBA title to Utah.
"I want to win basketball games and get to the playoffs. … Hopefully at the end, we'll get all the way, and that's the ultimate goal," Markkanen said. "I know how the business works. … Obviously, they want to win a championship, so they're doing the best they can towards that. I think we have a lot of good people in this organization that have shown that they can do the job. … I have trust for those guys."
"Lauri's a hugely important piece for us now and going forward," Utah general manager Justin Zanik said. "I don't want to waste any years of that, but you also have to do it within the timeline. Our goal is to make the playoffs and then grow from there. … So what are those moves that can do that? As Lauri grows and continues to get better, then we're adding so they can grow with him."
Rather than just waiting to see how it all plays out, Markkanen continues to take an advanced approach to the matter. He believes that the better he plays, the better the team is, and in return, the easier it will be to attract more talent to the Jazz — which could speed up the entire rebuild process.
"I look at this whole situation just as a way for myself to get better," he said. "One way to effect that is to get so much better and work on your game that kind of speeds things up. The better I'm playing, the better our team is playing. It's gonna speed up the process and push the young guys. … That's my part of the job to fast-forward this thing."