Jazz F Lauri Markkanen Announces Completion of Finnish Military Service

The All-Star Utah Jazz forward gave fans an update on his offseason duties.

After his first season with the Utah Jazz came to a close this past spring, Lauri Markkanen announced his plans to undergo his mandatory military service for his home country of Finland. Given the team’s 37-45 final season record and elimination from postseason play, it proved to be the perfect time to fill his obligations.

It’s customary for each male Finnish citizen to participate in military service before the age of 30. Markkanen, who’s 26, took the time this offseason to return home and complete his duties.

Lauri announced the completion of his venture on his Instagram on Friday:

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A post shared by Lauri Markkanen (@laurimarkkanen)

While he did decide to complete his obligation this summer, he ensured in an earlier interview with CNN that it would not get in the way of basketball:

“I just figured if we’re not going to playing in the postseason this year, then it’s going to be a good time to do it now, instead of just postponing it and then eventually having to do it in a time that wouldn’t work so well for me...I definitely don’t want it to affect the basketball part, so we’ll figure out how to do a combination."

The 7-foot three-level scorer is coming off of a career season with the Jazz, averaging 25.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on great efficiency (49.9/39.1/87.5) to win the NBA’s 2023 Most Improved Player award. He now enters his second year with Utah, hoping to lead this franchise to higher heights than a 12-seed finish.

With his Finnish service out of the way and training camps approaching, Markkanen can fully focus on the season ahead to build on his stellar production.

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