In a few months, the NBA will give its awards to teams and players. Of course, the MVP of the NBA is always the most influential topic of NBA awards. Besides that, the NBA’s Most Improved Player award has been a surprisingly big topic of conversation, and it is easy to understand why. Some players have taken the NBA by storm, and a future Finnish NBA superstar is leading the line to win this award for the first time in NBA history.
It’s not common to see a Finnish NBA player. That has never happened before in the way Lauri Markkanen has done it. He has played in the NBA since 2017, but this season, when he joined the Utah Jazz, has been the most impactful season he has had so far. Many have said that Markkanen is finally living up to his potential and is the clear favorite to win the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.
In 63 games this season, Markkanen is averaging career highs in points. He averages 25.4 points, 1.8 assists, and 8.6 rebounds per game. Besides that, Markkanen is also shooting 40.1% from beyond the arc. This percentage was even higher earlier this season. His field goal percentage is 50.3, and all these numbers have improved a lot from the past seasons. A lot about Markkanens’ season tells the fact he played in this season’s NBA All-Star game as the first player ever from the Nordic countries.
Who Are The Biggest Competitors?
The top 3 candidates for NBA Most Improved Player 2023 award are Markkanen, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Brunson. At the start of the season, it looked like that Gilgeous-Alexander would be the one to take the award home. To everyone’s surprise, Markkanen and Brunson came out of nowhere and entered the competition as serious challengers. In March 2023, Markkanen seems to be the favorite to win the award.
In January, the NBA had its midseason media survey drop on its website. That publication included answers to different questions, and one of those questions was about the most improved player. The NBA media placed Markkanen in the top position since he received 53 percent of the votes. Gilgeous-Alexander was second on the list getting 33 percent of the votes.
Even though Markkanen might have been the most improved player, Gilgeous-Alexander has up his game from the previous seasons and is Markkanen’s most significant challenger for the award. This season, Gilgeous-Alexander averages over 31 points, four rebounds, and five assists a game. And this is just a scratch on the statistics where he has developed a lot.
The betting sites have favored Markkanen to win the NBA’s MIP award since the start of January. Before that, Gilgeous-Alexander was the favorite to win the award. Brunson has been a serious challenger since the beginning of February but has never been the first-choice option.
According to Finnish betting experts from Vedonlyontisivustoni.com, no one really expected this kind of rise from Markkanen.
The First Finnish NBA Superstar?
NBA has been around for almost 80 years. During NBA history, there have been nearly 5000 players playing in the league. Three of those are from Finland, and only Markkanen is close to reaching superstar status in the NBA. He might not yet be a superstar on the whole NBA level, but in Finland, he is the best basketball player in their country’s history. But how good were the other Finnish NBA players?
The first Finnish NBA player was Hanno Möttölä, who played for Atlanta Hawks for two seasons between 2000 and 2002. He played 155 games in the NBA but never reached the same level as Markkanen. Atlanta Hawks selected Möttölä in the second round, with the 40th overall pick. The second Finnish NBA player was Erik Murphy. His NBA career lasted for only one season between 2013 and 2014, when he played 24 games for Chicago Bulls. Just looking at the time Murphy played in the NBA, it’s relatively easy to say he wasn’t on the same level as Möttölä or Markkanen.
