We didn’t see a lot of Lauri Markkanen in Utah last season, with injuries cutting his season in half.
Friday at EuroBasket, he reminded Great Britain, and everyone else, just how good he can be — and showed he still has plenty of hops.
It wasn’t just that dunk, Markkanen dropped 43 to lead Finland to a group stage win.
Finland is now 2-0 in group play, having beaten Sweden and Great Britain, with Markkanen is averaging 35.5 points a game. Jazz fans — and you can be sure some other front office personnel around the NBA — have taken notice. Next up for Finland is winless Montenegro.
There were some other NBA big men who had good days at EuroBasket.
Alperen Sengun had 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting with 12 rebounds and nine assists as his Türkiye team continues to look strong in a win over the Czech Republic.
Kristaps Porzingis had 26 points and seven rebounds to lift Latvia past Estonia for its first EuroBasket 2025 win.
Nikola Jokic had 23 points and 10 rebounds in another win for Serbia, a team that has looked dominant so far.