Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen has won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, the league announced.
In his sixth season, Markkanen thrived in an expanded role after being included in the Donovan Mitchell blockbuster deal between Utah and Cleveland. Markkanen averaged 25.6 points per game on 49.9% shooting and 1.9 assists per game, all career highs. He also shot 87.5% from the free throw line and snared 8.6 rebounds per contest in 66 starts and received a start in the All-Star Game.
Last season, Markkanen averaged 14.8 PPG on 44.5% shooting, 5.7 RPG and 1.3 APG in 61 starts with the Cavaliers. Prior to this season, Markkanen’s career high in scoring average was 18.7 PPG during his second of four seasons with Chicago.
Markkanen topped the other finalists, the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, for the award. Markkanen received 69 of the 100 first-place votes and 430 points. Gilgeous-Alexander wound up second with 24 first-place votes and 289 points. Brunson was a distant third with four first-place votes and 91 points.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished fourth in the league in scoring (31.4 PPG) as the Thunder made the play-in tournament. During his All-Star season, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 51% from the field and 90.5% from the foul line. He also averaged 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists in his fifth NBA season. He averaged 24.5 points last season.
Brunson lifted the Knicks into the playoffs with a stellar season after leaving the Mavericks as a free agent. In his fifth season, he averaged 24.0 points and 6.2 assists per night while making 41.6% of his 3-point attempts, posting career bests in each category. Last season, he averaged 16.3 PPG and 4.8 APG.
Mikal Bridges, Tyrese Haliburton and Trey Murphy III each picked up one first-place vote, finishing fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.
Fifth-place finisher Nic Claxton, Kevon Looney, De’Aaron Fox, Austin Reaves, Jaren Jackson Jr., Aaron Gordon, and Malik Monk all received at least one vote.
They got it right
Trash. Shai was the obvious winner. A. Silver has turn this league into a clown show
Markkanen improved in every category. Shai regressed in two categories. Markkanen also had the biggest jumps in stats in two categories, including points. Your dissatisfaction is misplaced.
I’m a jazz fan but this should of been Shai’. The two categories he “regressed” in were .2 assists and .4 rebounds. Everything else was much improved.
His 3pt shot too
No it’s quite accurate. The fact is Markannen barely improved. He just got worse for 3 straight years so people with small attention spans forgot that he avg 19-9 in 2019. So in fours years all he did was raise his ppg a few pts.
Yeah, I guess if you want to strictly use counting stats.
We could alternatively look at the fact that is VORP is triple his previous high, while he racked up 8.2 win shares despite never topping 5 in a season.
His true shooting percentage is over 5% of what his career average is. He’s shooting at by far his most efficient clip despite being the number 1 option for the first time in his career.
This isn’t to suggest Shai doesn’t also have a valid case, but I think it’s fair to say that the award could have gone to either player
Well counting stats are facts.
I notice how you left out the fact he had his worse Def Rtg of his career. But I guess we’ll just skip over that right?
Tell me you have no idea what DRTG is without telling me.
+10PPG is superior than 7. Don’t know why you’re confused?
Shai was already really good. Markkanen went from a bench player to an All-Star starter / All-NBA.
However, the biggest reason media like him is because of his superior efficiency. In fact, it’s historic. It’s even more so for a 7-footer. First player to do this and that. Lots to like as the most improved.
Don’t get me wrong, Shai did improve. He was just 2nd most improved. Can’t go by the team’s record. I think that’s where too many get emotional about it.
Nah he only jumped 5ppg from his career best. Players should t get credit for getting worse.
And did you just say Markannen is All NBA? AhahahahahA, ok yea you ain’t bias
Huh? I’m reporting the stats. The All-NBA is what the media is projecting. You’re clearly raging like it happened to you personally. Fanatic, indeed. Just appreciate that whatever guy you support did improve. ;)
Nobody was an “obvious winner.”
“A. Silver has turned this league into a clown show.”
What an overreaction
I know right? Its for most improved player award, it literally does not matter and even the players who win the award barely care at all.
Youve tried to come at me with the overreaction thing before and I already schooled you on the facts. Stop the nonsense.
You didn’t “school” me on anything. There’s no “nonsense” going on. Stating a polarizing opinion and pretending it’s fact isn’t going to make me take your argument any more seriously
there is no pretending. again i already schooled you on it, so i wont do it again. if you forget, just go look at the ratings. A. Silver is destroying the league, and the numbers prove. just because you want to pretend its not fact, doesnt mean its not fact. it just means youre buying your head deeper in the sand
Ok, then don’t watch. This certainly isn’t dissuading me from watching the NBA
This nothing Bout me or you. This is about fans as a whole. Again facts. Ratings are half of what they were 10 years ago. Again, facts.
Should we look at the exploding costs to purchase a franchise? Or how about the multi billion dollar TV deal that shattered previous earnings despite him destroying the league. In what sense is it being destroyed? Because YOU don’t like the current product? Move along boomer
Haha, you mean that TV deal that ended up being way less than thought and all the owners over paid for players that year? Ahahaha
This has nothing to do with being a boomer, millennial or whatever cliche you want to use. It is pure fact. In 2012, Stern had ratings at 3.3. last year ratings were 1.6. that is half the viewership. Again, straight up facts.
In 2012, the lakers were valued at $900 million, tops in the league. In 2023, the least valuable team in the league is the New Orleans Pelicans at $1.63 Billion. If the product has diminished so much by “ratings”, which is one of the worst measures in the streaming age, how is the least valuable team in the league worth nearly double the most valuable from just 11 years ago? Inflation, nope. No one cares about Nielsen ratings boomer! Count streaming subscriptions, league pass subscriptions, shared account streams, international views. Look at franchise sales, if the product is so bad why are people lining up to light billions of dollars on fire? Super successful businessmen do not buy depreciating assets. The nba has become GLOBAL, so there is more to it than your set top box ratings. The facts are, nba team values continue to sky rocket, league revenues have increased, even accounting for lost season(s) due to Covid, and your opinion is wrong, no matter how much your dear ratings say
Well deserved.
After watching Markkanen’s first game at the University of Arizona, I called him the most talented player that program had ever seen.
Unfortunately his head coach Sean Miller, the college version of Jim Boylen, never understood how to utilize him. He forced Lauri to play old-school rim-protecting, screen-setting center, while his favorite, Allonzo Trier, had free reign to chuck up shots ad libitum. When ESPN interviewed his visiting parents during a game, his father straightforward said that Lauri played “shackled” under the current system.
Good to see Markkanen finally receiving the respect he deserves.
Should have been a tie between Shai and Lauri, both had extremely improved seasons, one was not more or less than the other.
Thunder fan here. I don’t have any issue with LM winning it. Both guys were deserving. I’ll be happy if Shai get a first or second team all nba. (Which he should)
That’s where I see him getting his recognition. Shai deserves to be All-NBA, no doubt. He’s one of the best guards in the NBA today.
MIP and maybe 6th man are probably the most stat driven awards. The rest go by narrative. Although, I do think narrative still plays a role in any NBA award. Just the nature of allowing the media to decide these things.
In this case OKC won more games with less rostered talent.
Either way both players were improved no doubt, but Utah tanked comparitvely, and with more rostered veteran talent finished with a worse record?
Glad LM isn’t being punished for the Utah tank, but OKC, and SGA should have atleast been given something for their effort to not tank
The second half of the year they had half their roster traded and then the rest were injured. Markkanen played then missed some games then played. They ended the last 10 games with bench and 10-day contract players.
Regardless, MIP has nothing to do with team success. It’s not the same as MVP voting. It’s about progression. Shai is already ahead in his progression. He should’ve won it the year he scored 25?ppg.
Want to talk about progression? Ok let’s look at it.
In 18-19 Markannenn avg 19-9-1 and SGA avg 11-3-3
This year Markannen 26-9-2 and SVA 31-5-6
So Markannen improved by 7-0-1 and SVA 20-2-3
Clearly SVA has progressed significantly better than Markannen and it’s not even close.
Your desire to go by counting stats is how we got some of the worst MIPs in history like Don McLean, Aaron Brooks, Alan Henderson, etc.
26 PPG on 50% shooting is significantly better than 19 PPG on 43% shooting. Lauri wasn’t getting touches “just because” as he was in his early years in CHI.
Both Shai and Lauri were worthy candidates, but you seem incapable of critical thought, and bitter that your choice “lost”.
I’m not bitter about anyone losing, I’m bitter of the legitimacy of the award. It only looks like he improved cause he got worse and then just went back to where he was supposed to be at. The I.prpved player award should go to someone who actually improved, not someone that was good, then sucked and then got back to baseline again.
What are any y’all even talking about? Y’all just hanging on 1 aspect. That’s your only argument. And it’s not even a good one because if that was the determination, it should go to Austin reeves who True Shooting went from 60% to 69%, a 9% increases which is 33% better than Markannen 6% increase.
What you want to talk about efficiency? SGA was 7th in the NBA in Player EFFICIENCY Rating. And his VORP was significantly better than Markannen. Come on, just stop the nonsense, y’all get nothing
Nobody cares about the previous seasons before last year, when it comes to MIP. It’s about the progression from last year to this year. They still will mention the previous years as part of the narrative, but looking at where they ended last year compared to this year is where the media have to decide from. Otherwise, it becomes too big of a comparison for all players to be considered.
For example, you could argue for Austin Reaves, but his sample size is too small. Have to set a standard to measure from or the award can’t be taken seriously.
There was no better choice…
Actually I changed my mind. The obvious answer is Jamal Murray. In 21-22 he avg 0ppg 0reb and 0asts and improved to 20-4-6 and improved in every single category.
C’mon Kendrick, have a Snickers!
He TOTALED zero. Please whip out your calculator and try to divide something (including zero) by zero.
Exactly, so you compare 0 to everything he did this year, should have been unanimous MIP
Brunson, Lauri then Shai. Brunson because team impact and they are in the playoffs
It’s not a team award. It’s an individual award. He also regressed in two categories. He already showed all of this last year with Dallas. It’s not really improvement, rather more consistent playing time.
Markkanen improved all his stats, improved his body muscle and stamina. Became a dominant primary scorer for the first time in his career. First guy to make 200 threes and 100 dunks in the same season. Was nearly a 50-40-90 guy for a 7′ that’s insane!
Why can’t people just appreciate what Markkanen did instead of whining about their guy? Not winning the award makes their progress any less valid. It’s more about timing than anything. Markkanen’s just happened at the right time and was a big enough improvement over the competition. Pretty straightforward.