Lauri Markkanen has been compared to Dirk Nowitzki for years. Rick Carlisle says the comps are warranted
Lauri Markkanen was almost certain the Dallas Mavericks were going to pick him in the 2017 NBA draft. He’d had his best predraft workout in Dallas and all the feedback he’d gotten from their coaches and front office was glowing.
He was right to think they wanted him.
Rick Carlisle, then coach of the Mavericks and now head coach of the Indiana Pacers, said Markkanen’s workout for the Mavs was incredible and that he was a more gifted athlete than they had previously thought. The problem was that other teams were going to see what Dallas saw, and since his team had the ninth pick that year, they were probably going to miss out on Markkanen.
“We were hoping that there was some way he could have fallen to us at nine,” Carlisle said. “After we worked him out, it was pretty clear to me that it was unlikely to happen because athletically he tested much better than expected, much more powerful.”
After all, if there was anyone in the NBA world that could understand Markkanen’s potential as a 7-footer who could space the floor and move with the agility of a guard, it was the coach who had won an NBA title with a team led by Dirk Nowitzki.
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Markkanen has been compared to Nowitzki since before he was eventually drafted seventh overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves and traded on draft night to the Chicago Bulls. He’s always found the comparisons flattering, even if it has felt daunting to be compared to a Hall of Fame player. And when you are a young prospect that is compared to such a profound and decorated player, it’s hard to live up to the hype.
“Obviously it’s a compliment to be compared to him but he was his own player and I’m me,” Markkanen said. “I’m just trying to get better at things that I do.”
Following a somewhat quiet stint in Chicago and more impactful play after being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Markkanen exploded after being traded, once again, to the Utah Jazz. In Carlisle’s eyes, it was only a matter of time.
“He’s the closest thing I’ve seen to Nowitzki,” he said. “He’s underrated as an athlete. People try and put bigger guys on him, smaller guys on him and he shoots over the smaller guys and out-crafts the big guys.”
The coach continued, “He’s tough. He’s a much tougher player than what you may think looking at him. He’s tall and slender, angular, but he’s rugged. He’s a major, major problem.”
On the same night that Carlisle piled on the praise of Markkanen, he proved to be a major problem against the Pacers with a 32-point performance in a wire-to-wire Jazz win in which Markkanen didn’t even have to set foot on the court in the fourth quarter.
Coincidentally, this all happened on the same day that Markkanen was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week, a week in which Markkanen was also named Finland’s Athlete of the Year.
While it’s clear that Markkanen has elevated his game and has flourished in Utah — making his All-Star debut last season and winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award — the Finnish star has insisted that without team success, a great coach and great teammates that he wouldn’t be able to achieve the same level of success.
After being named Western Conference Player of the Week, he thanked his teammates for what they’ve done.
“If you lose, you don’t get Player of the Week,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “Lauri was probably deserving statistically, to have been considered for Player of the Week a few times in the past, but our team hasn’t been playing well enough. So this is two things kind of happening at the same time — Lauri has had a great week of basketball, but also so has our team. And he was the first person to say that when we told the team that he got the award.”
So what’s next for Markkanen?
Well, of course he wants to play postseason basketball, and he wants to eventually be a part of a team that is contending for an NBA championship. There’s a lot of work and time and preparation that goes into trying to develop into a player that can be a part of a title contender.
In the shorter term, Markkanen would love to make the 2024 All-Star team, but more importantly, he wants the Jazz to continue on the path they’re on — they’ve won 12 of the last 14 games and have the best record in the league since Christmas.
“Just like the past week, winning games is what helps us,” Markkanen said. “I’m still trying to do my part to get us wins.”
What’s striking is that, despite their differences, it is the team approach and competitive nature as a teammate that seems the most similar between Nowitzki and Markkanen. While fiercely individualistic and prideful, just as Nowitzki was, Markkanen is, more than anything, a great teammate who will do whatever it takes to win.
