Lauri Markkanen is mounting an All-Star-level campaign during his first year with the Utah Jazz. The sixth-year forward is averaging a career-best 22.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game on 53.9 percent shooting from the field and 36.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Markkanen is the lead scorer for a Utah Jazz (12-7) that owns the best record in the West and the third-best in the League behind the Celtics (13-4) and Bucks (12-4). The Jazz playing this well may come as a surprise to NBA fans and media figures who expected Utah to launch a rebuild with new head coach Will Hardy and a new front office regime led by Danny Ainge.
The 25-year-old forward has drawn positive reviews from his teammates, who think that Markkanen is an All-Star. When Mark Medina of NBA.com mentioned this, Markannen said, “it’s pretty cool to know that your teammates have your back.”
“Of course, I know it’s still real early in the season,” Markkanen said. “Obviously, I try to go out there and play like that every night. That’s my goal. It’s fun to hear that from them. But we keep going to work, and we’re focusing on the day-by-day. That has always been a personal goal of mine.”
Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen said that becoming an All-Star “has always been a personal goal of mine.” Markkanen below on his teammates saying he should make the team this season pic.twitter.com/jB3CovzVTl
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) November 22, 2022
Markkanen said that the Jazz has to keep “winning basketball games” while he works to “keep getting better every day and putting numbers up on a winning team.”
“That’s the trick,” Markkanen said. “I know if I play to the best of my abilities, ‘t’ll help the team.
