ESPN gives Lauri Markkanen embarrassing EuroBasket ranking

Lauri Markkanen wasted no time making himself stand out at EuroBasket. Following a down season with the Utah Jazz, Markkanen gave the fans a sigh of relief when he looked like the Markkanen of old. Despite his brilliance three games into the EuroBasket, Markkanen was ranked shockingly low on ESPN's top 10 list of NBA players in the tournament.

It would be the most biggest homer take of all time to suggest that Markkanen is on the same level as the likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic, but on ESPN's Neil Paine he was ranked No. 7, behind Franz Wagner, Alperen Sengun, and Kristaps Porzingis. Paine explained why he ranked Markkanen that low.

"Last season he experienced drops across nearly all of his metrics, resulting in a below-average estimated RAPTOR (minus-0.5). He still projects as an above-average player based on his strengths, but he needs to bounce back this season to return to that star track from before. And if his performance in pre-tournament friendlies is any indication -- he had 42 points and 12 rebounds against Poland earlier in the week -- Markkanen might be motivated for another big performance in the tournament."

It is true that Markkanen is coming off a down season, and while Wagner and Sengun have a case to be ahead of him, Porzingis is inexcusable. The same Porzingis who's coming off a postseason averaging 7.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks while shooting 31.6% from the field and 15.4% from three and was pretty far down Boston's pecking order should not be ranked ahead of Markkanen.

Markkanen is due for a bounceback season, but to be fair, so is Porzingis. The only time the latter made the All-Star game was 2018, and he didn't play. The only time the former made the All-Star game was 2023.

The ranking is too low but the criticism is fair

While the ranking is definitely questionable, this is clear proof that Markkanen has to prove himself next season. He's way ahead of everyone else in that regard, in case you haven't seen what he's done in the EuroBasket, but everyone needs to see him do exactly this on an NBA court like he did in his first two years as a Jazzman.

As everyone knows, even though Utah's plan is to still tank, they will not hold Markkanen back in their efforts this time. That puts him in a prime position to prove why the Jazz did not think twice about extending him last year.

It wouldn't surprise anyone if Markkanen looks back to normal next season, but that will be easier said than done.

(Apparently, Markkanen wasn't ranked to begin with and didn't even make the honorable mentions on this list, but there's no way to confirm this.)