Lauri Markkanen

Finnish scoring forward whose three-point shooting and offensive versatility led him to the NBA's Most Improved Player award and All-Star recognition.

Lauri Elias Markkanen was born on 22 May 1997 in Vantaa, Finland, the son of Finnish basketball players Pekka and Riikka Markkanen; his father played college basketball at the University of Kansas before a long professional career in Finland, and his younger brother, Eero, became a professional footballer. Lauri grew up in Jyväskylä, beginning his own career with local club HoNsU before moving to HBA-Märsky in Finland's second tier. Markkanen moved to the United States to play one season at the University of Arizona, earning first-team All-Pac-12 honours, before the Minnesota Timberwolves selected him seventh overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, immediately trading him to the Chicago Bulls as part of the deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. Nicknamed "the Finnisher," Markkanen developed into one of the most prolific European shooters in the league, moving to the Cleveland Cavaliers before finding a career resurgence with the Utah Jazz, where he won the NBA Most Improved Player award and earned his first All-Star selection in 2023. Markkanen has been named Finland's Player of the Year eight times and led the country to a historic run at EuroBasket, cementing his status as the most accomplished Finnish basketball player in history and a driving force behind the sport's rising popularity in his home country.

Stretch four with excellent three-point shooting and rebounding

First Finnish NBA All-Star and one of Europe's top NBA players

• Most Improved Player 2023
• All-Star 2023