Lauri Markkanen signed a big extension late in the summer to stay with the Utah Jazz long-term. Since then, all of his stats have gotten worse — including his free-throw shooting.
The Jazz had a 12-point lead late against the Indiana Pacers, but ended up losing, 112-111. With the Jazz trailing by two and 17 seconds left on the clock, Markkanen went to the line and missed both of his free throws. He may have missed the second one intentionally, despite there being far too much time left for that gambit. Or he simply missed horribly.
it’s been bad across the board this season for Utah’s former All-Star forward. Markkanen’s scoring dropped from 23.2 to 19.4 points per game. His rebounds went from 8.2 to 6.2, his assists from two to 1.7, blocks from 0.5 to 0.4. His field goals dropped 57 percentage points, his three-point shooting dropped 51 points and his free-throw shooting went from .899 to .869.
It’ll drop more after the two late misses Monday. It’s true that the Utah Jazz are in their third straight season of a rebuild, also known as a tank job, but the losing may be wearing on Markkanen. He’s struggled with back issues this year, but he simply might be disheartened with Utah’s woeful 11-37 record.
But with a strong draft class headline by Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Utah’s best hope for improvement might be to pair Markkanen with a young superstar prospect. Maybe Markkanen isn’t slumping. Maybe he’s just the ultimate team player.
