The Utah Jazz are back to .500 and a lot of that has to do with Lauri Markkanen. Once considered one of the worst teams in the league when the season started, the Jazz have battled back and have climbed to the ninth seed in the NBA playoffs, while redirecting the direction of the team in the process. No longer stuck in the endless cycle of "trade away this player..." conversations, now people are wondering who the Jazz may trade for.
And fair enough, because the Jazz aren't dead in the water, not anymore. They're competitive once again and a huge reason for that is Markkanen. He helped bring the Jazz back from the brink during the 2022-2023 season, and he's once again doing it with the Jazz in 2023-2024. He's a transformative player, turning the Jazz into a true powerhouse at times, something that many didn't expect to say after the trade.
The team needs help still, sure, but Markkanen is the foundation and the foundation should be heading back to the All-Star game in 2024. The man dubbed the Finnisher has nearly identical stats from the prior season to this season.
During the 2022-2023 season, he had shooting splits of .499/.391/.875, while scoring 25.6 points and pulling down 8.6 rebounds per game. In the 2023-2024 season, his shooting splits are nearly identical, .490/.390/.876 and he's averaging 23.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.
To top it off, his offensive box plus-minus has improved, going from 4.9 last season to 5.9 this season. He also has the same true shooting percentage season to season at 64%.
Clearly Markkanen has proven that last season was no fluke, as he's had a near identical follow up performance. He's clearly deserving to make it to another All Star Game this season, and hopefully the voters agree.