Lauri Markkanen's play has been too good for the rest of the NBA not to notice. Besides the fact that he's putting up numbers not seen in Utah Jazz history since Adrian Dantley. It would be a stretch to suggest that he's a legitimate MVP candidate, but it wouldn't be to suggest he's been among the NBA's best players. Yet, somehow, he isn't.
NBA.com's Shaun Powell shared his MVP ladder earlier today, where he revealed his top 10 players in the league. While the obvious candidates were there - Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo - Markkanen wasn't listed.
Okay, fair enough. For as consistently dominant as Markkanen has been, there have been plenty of excellent NBA players who have shown out this season, so it's feasible that he wouldn't be listed among the top 10 players in the league to start the season. However, if you do a little more digging, you'll see that the Finnisher's name isn't even among the honorable mentions.
So who is instead? While Stephen Curry and Julius Randle could make some sense, Norman Powell and Austin Reaves don't. Those two have been excellent. Excellent enough to make the All-Star team, but compared to Markkanen, they aren't on the same level as him.
Markkanen is not only playing the best basketball, but he's also one of the league's best scorers, scoring at a truly historic pace. He deserves some props for that. It's not leading to much success for the Jazz, but is that really on him?
This is the consequence of starring on a subpar team
The Jazz aren't nearly as depressingly bad as they were last season, and Markkanen has a lot to do with that, but sporting a record of 5-9 would be held against pretty much anyone. When that happens, that makes many question if his impressive play is truly impactful.
The truth is, it is, but the Jazz are still a very young team whose best days are a year or so away. The way to think about it is to ask this: if Markkanen wasn't on the team, would the Jazz have any wins right now?
As long as he keeps this up (and from his history, he's definitely shown that he can), Markkanen is definitely making an All-Star team. That much is known, and an All-NBA appearance is definitely in play for now. Putting him in the MVP conversation is definitely a stretch, but he definitely should be in the honorable mentions when this subject comes up.