Lauri Markkanen praises Cavs while starring for Finland

The Cleveland Cavaliers are stocked with players who generate plenty of buzz. Darius Garland is becoming one of the best young guards in the league, Jarrett Allen made his first All-Star Game last season, Evan Mobley was nearly Rookie of the Year last season. Collin Sexton trumps them all as the drama around his re-signing drags on.

Yet one player who easily slips under the radar is Lauri Markkanen, the Cavs’ starting small forward and a key part of their success last year. He may not be as offensively dynamic as Garland, but he is a respected shooter who started 61 games for the Cavs last season.

Markkanen also holds the distinction of being the most distinguished basketball player from his home country of Finland. According to RealGM, in fact, he’s only the third player from Finland to ever even make the NBA, after Hanno Mottola (2000) and Erik Murphy (2013) combined to play three seasons in the league. Gerald Lee was a college star at Old Dominion but went undrafted and played his career out overseas.

Suffice it to say, Markkanen is far and away the greatest Finnish basketball player of all time, even if he isn’t an NBA superstar. In addition to his club team in Cleveland, Markkanen competes with the Finnish Men’s Basketball National Team, also known as the Susijengi or “The Wolf Pack.”

Markkanen is in Europe right now competing with his fellow pack members for FIBA World Cup Qualifying. In just a few days one of the greatest tournaments in basketball, EuroBasket, will kick off in four countries across central Europe. Markkanen and Finland will compete in that competition as well, five years after they placed 11th out of 24 teams as one of the host nations at EuroBasket 2017. As a teenager Markkanen led Finland in scoring with 19.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

Before EuroBasket starts, Finland lined up a pair of FIBA World Cup qualifying games. Thursday they played the first such game against Israel, and beforehand Markkanen gave an interview to Joshua Halickman of “SportsRabbi.com” on his play for both the Finnish team and the Cavaliers.

On the topic of competing for his home nation of Finland, Markkanen said:

"It means everything to me. Finland is the country I grew up in and representing Finland in national team is my way of giving back to my home country and the Finnish community"

For Markkanen and many international players, the long NBA season prevents them from competing with their national teams for many qualifying games, so this opening to play multiple games for Finland is valuable. Other players around the world such as Deni Avdija (his opponent on the Israeli national team on Thursday), fellow Cavalier Cedi Osman, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo – the list goes on and on as the NBA’s international talent pool continues to grow.

Markkanen commented on his loyalty to his national team and how he approaches his role when competitions roll around:

"In Susijengi, we play as a team. We really enjoy playing together and being around each other. We all want to complement each other and when I wear that Finland jersey, I don’t think about the NBA. I try to bring to the table whatever my teammates and our coaches want me to bring."

The interview cast a look back at Markkanen’s past, including some standout performances with the Susijengi and some disappointments. Markkanen shared some fun anecdotes about his childhood, where he was raised in a basketball family: both his parents and his brothers all played basketball. When the snow in Finland got thick, Markkanen didn’t let it stop him:

"I just shoveled the snow away and put on my winter coat and mittens and shot the ball in our backyard."

Then the conversation pivoted to Markkanen’s NBA career, and especially his fit on the Cleveland Cavaliers. While some NBA players use international interviews to vent about or seek leverage with their NBA teams, Markkanen had nothing but good things to say about the Cavs.

"We really liked being around each other. We loved J.B.’s (coach Bickerstaff) system and had that youthful energy and once we began taking wins, we understood we could really make some noise in the league. If it wasn’t for all the injuries, I believe we had the possibility to go deep in the playoffs."

Markkanen and Finland won a close game over that Israeli team on Thursday, 79-73, with the Scandanavian star starting and dropping 23 points and snatching nine rebounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjvhAaEyvCY

He and Finland suit up one final time for World Cup qualifying on Sunday, with a game against Estonia to wrap things up. Finland has gone 6-1 in qualifying thus far, all but ensuring them a spot in next year’s World Cup.

Then it’s on to EuroBasket, where Markkanen and the Susijengi will compete in a difficult Group D including Jokic and Serbia, tough opponents in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the same Israeli team that just pushed them hard in qualifying. Markkanen and his teammates will have their work cut out for them to advance into the knockout stages and beyond.

Finland is currently ranked as the 35th-best team in the world, although that will almost certainly increase based on their strong play in recent weeks. Cavs fans can cheer for Finland throughout EuroBasket 2022, as every game will be streamed on the ESPN platforms.

Then it’s back to the Cavs, where Markkanen will step back into the starting lineup and help this team to accomplish their goals. Markkanen is optimistic about what the future holds for this team. When asked about next season:

"With Collin Sexton healthy and Ricky coming back, we are one year older and wiser. We can take what we had last season and improve from that and build that collective confidence one practice, one game at a time."

For the Finnish national team, Lauri Markkanen is a superstar. For the Cavaliers, he is a solid starter. For both the 7-foot shooter is hoping to be a part of smashing expectations and finding a lot of success, be it in Prague or Cleveland.