With the NBA offseason completely quiet, Lauri Markkanen has been anything but. In his play in Eurobasket, Markkanen is averaging gaudy numbers that are reminiscent of when he first came to Utah.
In two games against Belgium, he scored 48 and 31 points.
It doesn’t stop there, Markkanen demolished the country of Poland without regard for the survivors. Markkanen put up
42 points and 12 rebounds on 10/17 shooting.
Imagine watching your national team being destroyed, and this is the face of the guy doing it.
What’s exciting for Jazz fans is that the last time Markkanen played like this, he was an all-star the following season. The Jazz front office should also be excited. If they want to keep Markkanen and have him be a part of the future core, this is great news. If they want to trade him, this improves his trade market without him having played a single game. We know the Jazz want to keep that top-8 pick next season, so this is definitely something to watch this season. Will Markkanen put the potential build in jeopardy? We’ll find out.
