Lauri Markkanen’s play was too good for the rest of the NBA to notice. In addition to putting up numbers not seen in the history of the Utah Jazz since Adrian Dantley. It would be far-fetched to suggest he’s a legitimate MVP candidate, but it wouldn’t be to suggest he’s among the NBA’s best players. But somehow he isn’t.
Shaun Powell of NBA.com 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 was not on the list.
Okay, fair enough. As consistent as Markkanen has been, there have been plenty of excellent NBA players who have stepped up this season, so it’s possible he won’t be among the top 10 players in the league to start the season. However, if you dig a little more, you’ll see that the Finnish’s name isn’t even among the honorable mentions.
So who is instead? While Stephen Curry and Julius Randle might make some sense, Norman Powell and Austin Reaves do not. Those two have been excellent. Excellent enough to make the All-Star team, but compared to Markkanen, they are not on the same level as him.
Markkanen not only plays the best basketball, but he is also one of the league’s best scorers and is scoring at a truly historic rate. He deserves some props for that. It doesn’t lead to much success for the Jazz, but is that really his fault?
This is the result of starring on an undersized team
The Jazz aren’t nearly as depressingly bad as they were last season, and Markkanen has a lot to do with that, but a 5-9 record would be held against just about anyone. When that happens, it leaves many wondering if his impressive play is really making an impact.
The truth is that it is, but the Jazz are still a very young team with their best days still about a year away. The way to think about it is to ask this question: If Markkanen hadn’t been on the team, would the Jazz have each wins now?
As long as he can keep this up (and his history has certainly shown he can do it), Markkanen is sure to make an All-Star team. That much is known, and an All-NBA appearance is certainly on the cards for now. Including him in the MVP conversation is certainly a challenge, but he should definitely be in the honorable mentions when this topic comes up.
#rise #Lauri #Markkanen #leads #form #disrespect