By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
For four months now, Lauri Markkanen has been probably living the greatest moment of his basketball career. After entering the EuroBasket 2022 Top-8 with Finland, he has been the best Utah Jazz player in the NBA.
Interviewed by Mark Medina on the NBA’s website, the former Chicago Bulls player revealed how he found out he got traded from Cleveland to Utah. “It was 10:30 at night, and I was with the Finnish national team. We were playing the next morning against Israel in the first game of EuroBasket. We were just playing video games and saw the news that Cleveland got Donovan Mitchell. We were excited. But I joked, “We’ll see who is a part of the deal”, he said.
“But the initial report didn’t have any names on who was traded. I wondered if I was a part of it. Then, 20 seconds later, Cavs general manager Koby Altman called me. Then, I put it together”, he added
The 25-year-old, who is posting career highs in points (23.1), along with his marks from the field (53%) and 3-point range (43.2%), said that he is “in the best shape” of his life, and has nothing but great words for the Jazz.
“We have a good team. We just have to stay on the same page and build off our chemistry. We have a lot of new guys. But that was the same thing last season when I was in Cleveland. Everyone was doubting you at the beginning of the year. Then we started out well. Having that experience and then going into training camp, I knew we had a good team. We just have to keep going and keep getting better at knowing each other and staying on the same page”, Markkanen said.
The All-Star Weekend is near, and Lauri wants to be part of it. “That has always been a personal goal of mine. It takes a lot. It takes us winning basketball games. We have to keep this thing going. I just have to keep getting better every day and putting numbers up on a winning team. That’s the trick. I know if I play to the best of my abilities, it’ll help the team”, he commented on becoming an All-Star.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images