Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen believes adding an international team will help spice up the NBA’s All-Star Game, writes Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.
The new format was revealed earlier this month, splitting the All-Stars into three eight-man squads, one of which will be entirely composed of international players. The teams will compete in a round-robin format to crown a winner.
“There’s always pride when you’re representing your country, or in this case the world, and I think it’s going to be a fun format and hopefully I can be a part of it,” Markkanen said.
Markkanen made an All-Star appearance in 2023 during his first season in Utah, but injuries have prevented him from returning. He appeared in just 55 and 47 games the past two years.
However, at age 28 he still appears to be part of the future as the team transitions to a younger roster. A report in July indicated that the Jazz don’t have any plans to trade Markkanen, who still has four years and nearly $196MM left on his contract.
He appeared to be back in top form while leading Finland to the semifinals at EuroBasket. He averaged 26 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists in six games while earning second-team all-tournament honors.
Asked to pick the roster for Team World at All-Star weekend, Markkanen selected Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as his starting five. He admits there will be some tough decisions beyond that and hopes he will be in the mix with players such as Franz Wagner, Alperen Sengun, Domantas Sabonis and Karl-Anthony Towns.
“There are no bad options there. I think it’s a list of really good players, and it’s going to come down to team success and how players perform in each and every year,” Markkanen said. “And so I think the format is going to be fun to compete against the USA teams, and we’ll see who makes the team.”
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Actually, Markannen has an even smaller chance of playing in the All-Start game now. It’ll be harder to make the 8-man international squad than get one of the 16 spots available for the other two 8-man teams.
The international 8-man team will be loaded. Off the top of my head, I could think of 16 with a better shot Markannen. I bet there’s another 10.
1. SGA
2 Jokic
3. Giannis
4. Luka
5. Wemby
6. Sabonis
7. Embiid
8. Sengun
9. Siakkam
10. Wagner
11. Zubac
12. Anunoby
13. Gobert
14. Porzingis
15. Murray
16. Kyrie Irving (Australian citizen)