79 points in two games! Markkanen s warm-up match broke out, can he recover next season?

Markkanen, he was crazy in the European arena.

Before the European Cup of the Men's Basketball Team officially started, Finland played two warm-up matches with Belgium, and then Markanen beat Belgium:

- the first game, 17 of 24 shots, 7 of 13 three-pointers, 48 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals, Finland won 105-62 in the second game, 8 of 12 shots, 4 of 6 three-pointers, 31 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, Finland won 92-74 wins, although this is just a warm-up match, although Belgium is also weak, Markanen's condition is also amazing. The two games only played for 48 minutes, scored 79 points, 14 rebounds and 5 steals, with a total of 36 shots, and a shooting percentage of 25 of them was as high as 69.4% - just looking at the data, I thought this was Doncic, Antetokounmpo or Jokic.

In the first game, Markanen's 48 points set a single-game scoring record in Finland's national team's history (the previous record was 43 points maintained by Markanen). Although there was no personal record in the second game, this was the 500th international victory in Finland's history, which is quite memorable.

Let's talk about Finland first. It has made great progress in recent years. It won the seventh place in the European Cup in 2022 and has reached the World Cup for two consecutive years. As one of the host countries this year, it is expected to continue to refresh the best record in the team's history, but it is not small, because they are in the same group as Germany (the champion of the last European Cup) and Lithuania (with Valan and Sabonis Jr.).

The biggest reason why

has expectations for Finland, or the reason why Finland has risen in the past few years is undoubtedly Markanin.

The last European Cup, when Finland reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 1967 under the leadership of Markanen, the data given by Markanen was also very impressive: seven games, averaging 27.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, and a shooting percentage of 54.2%/40.5%/90.6% in three events.

The second to last game, facing Croatia, which has Hezonia, Zubac, Saric and Boyan, Markanen showed off his big shots, with 19 of 29 shots, scoring 43 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, and 43 points also set a new single-game scoring record for the Finnish national team at that time.

Looking at the NBA performance, objectively speaking, Markkanin's performance last season was not ideal.

47 regular season games played for the Jazz, Markanen handed over data: averaging 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, shooting percentage of 42.3%/34.6%/87.6% in three games, and a real shooting percentage of 57.1%.

As a comparison, the previous two seasons:

-2022-23 season, averaged 25.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, 49.9%/39.1%/87.5% of the three events, and 64.0% of the real shooting percentage, 64.0%

-2023-24 season, averaged 23.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, 48.0%/39.9%/89.9% of the three events, and 63.1% of the real shooting percentage, 63.1%

Markanen was the biggest and most unexpected gain for the Jazz in the previous Mitchell trade. In the first year of joining the Jazz, his score increased by 10.8 points compared with the previous year, and was selected as the All-Star and was the fastest-progress player.

The performance in the second season was slightly lower than the previous year, but in terms of ability, Markkanin's performance was still at the All-Star level. It was also after the end of this year that Markkanin received the "reward" given by the Jazz - Markkanin originally had one year left in the contract and his salary was only 18 million. The Jazz used the remaining space to re-sign the contract with him, first increasing his salary in the last year of the original contract to 42 million, and then renewed his contract with him for 4 years 196 million, which is equivalent to 238 million in five years.

Last season was the first year of Markkanen's contract, and his performance declined severely, but this decline was also considered "tactical" because the Jazz's goal was to rebuild, and many players in the team, including Clarkson, Sexton, and Collins, need to play the ball and get the contract. Therefore, Markkanen, who has already won the big contract, became a "sacrilege".

Judging from the performance of these two warm-up matches, this idea seems to make some sense - Markkanen is now 28 years old, at his peak, and has not suffered any major injuries, so it is indeed unlikely that he will decline for no reason.

It is worth mentioning that Markkanin has been on Anji's trading table. According to last year's offseason, Anji asked for 5 first rounds to release Markkanin. However, after the sluggish season and the effectiveness of the new contract, Markkanin is definitely worth less than 5 first rounds now.

As for last year's offseason, Markkanen was actually favored by many teams before re-signing the contract. For example, the Warriors had pursued him. At that time, the media even proposed a trading plan for the Warriors:

- the Warriors gave Podjemsky, Kumingga, Moody's, and two first-round picks

- the Jazz gave Markkanen

, but the deal was not reached in the end. It is reported that the Warriors insisted that they were unwilling to give Podjemsky at the time, and the Jazz called for Podjemsky.

The past is meaningless. Just look at the present, Markanin's performance in two warm-up matches should have amazed many people, and it also made more fans look forward to him next season. I hope that Markanin can continue to perform well in the next European Cup group stage.

To be honest, Markkanin is indeed a very good choice for a strong team. Not only is he outstanding in height and body shape, but he also has both ball and no ball. It is a pity to stay with the Jazz to accompany Anji to play badly.