The first time Lauri Markkanen received a call from Jazz head coach Will Hardy, he didn’t pick up.
It was approaching midnight in Prague on the first day of September. Back in the States, the NBA world was abuzz—star guard Donovan Mitchell was headed to the Cavaliers in a shocking blockbuster trade. Markkanen was wrapping up his night, finishing a round of video games with his teammates a little over 14 hours before Finland’s first game of the 2022 EuroBasket tournament. When he first caught wind of the trade, Markkanen was intrigued at the prospect of playing with Mitchell, then joked with his teammates that he’ll have to see who was part of the deal before getting too excited.
That’s when Markkanen’s phone first rang. He saw it was Cavs GM Koby Altman, and then Markkanen quickly realized he would be headed back to Utah in the deal. It would be Lauri’s third team in three seasons. Later, when he saw a U.S. phone number attempting to FaceTime him, he correctly assumed it was Hardy. And he wasn’t ready to talk.
