Former Bull Lauri Markkanen wins NBA's Most Improved Player award
Markkanen wins NBA's Most Improved Player award originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
In 2017, the Chicago Bulls plunged into a full rebuild by trading Jimmy Butler and the draft rights to Justin Patton for Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn.
Close to six years later, Markkanen, now on his third team with the Utah Jazz, has joined Butler as a winner of the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.
Markkanen, who turns 26 next month, beat out finalists Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the award following his sixth NBA season. He spent his first four with the Bulls.
“You always hope to play for one team for your whole career. But it just didn’t work out,” Markkanen said during an appearance on the Bulls Talk Podcast last November. “I think I’ve definitely got better from those years, just mentality-wise and physically being in a better place. . . . I’m smarter and better now.”
Indeed, Markkanen earned his first All-Star appearance during a dominant season in which his scoring average jumped from 14.8 points per game with the 2021-22 Cleveland Cavaliers to 25.6 points per game in his first season in Utah. He also averaged 8.6 rebounds---the second-most behind the 2018-19 season where he averaged 9 for the Bulls---and a career-high 1.9 assists.
Markkanen achieved all this while shooting 49.9 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from 3-point range and 87.5 percent from the free-throw line. All but the 3-point percentage marked a career-best, as did his true shooting percentage of .640.
Markkanen, who is currently fulfilling his mandatory military commitment in his native Finland, received 69 first-place votes and 430 total points to easily outdistance runner-up Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder guard received 24 first-place votes and 289 total points.
Markkanen’s previous best season came during his second with the Bulls when he averaged 18.7 points and 9 rebounds. But he ultimately grew disenchanted with his role and lack of a contract extension in December 2020, paving his trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team deal that netted the Bulls Derrick Jones Jr. and a protected lottery pick.
“I have very good memories from Chicago playing-wise and off the court---my kids being born there, growing as a family in the city of Chicago and playing with one of the most historic franchises. Obviously, there were definitely hard times as well, missing the playoffs four years straight,” Markkanen said on his Bulls Talk Podcast appearance. “But I think now it’s just easy to say I needed that kind of experience to fight through that kind of stuff and get here where I am today.”
Where he is today is recognized as the league’s most improved player.
