Where Does Jazz F Lauri Markkanen Place in ESPN's NBA Rank?

The Utah Jazz forward is the only member on the roster to find their way into ESPN's annual ranking.

Oct 15, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) looks on during the third quarter of the game against the Sacramento Kings at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

With every new NBA season that passes comes a fresh batch of player rankings around league media, with ESPN's annual "NBA Rank" being among the most notable, stacking up the best players from one to 100 on each of the 30 teams.

As opposed to general NBA rankings that stack up talent based on previous stats, ESPN's NBA Rank is a bit differed from the field by projecting who around the NBA will have the best upcoming season on a prediction basis, which gives us another interesting lens to look at the league's top players in.

However, when it comes to the Utah Jazz, things didn't look too hot for next season.

The Jazz failed to have more than one player rank within this year's top 100, that one player being one-time All-Star Lauri Markkanen, who enters his third season in Utah after bursting onto the scene as 2023's Most Improved Player.

For Markkanen, he found his way to the top 50 of ESPN's NBA Rank, ultimately placed at 33rd in the league. It effectively drops him a bit from his 2023 rank of 28th in the NBA, yet Tim MacMahon still labeled the 27-year-old as a 'foundation player' in Utah.

The five-year, $238 million contract Markkanen signed off a renegotiation and extension is strong proof that the Jazz believe that the 27-year-old forward can be a foundation player after the franchise's rebuild pays dividends," MacMahon said. "There aren't many 7-foot scorers as versatile as Markkanen, who has averaged 24.5 points per game on .490/.395/.885 shooting splits in his two seasons in Utah."

Markkanen was the lone Jazzman to enter into this year's rankings, as Walker Kessler, John Collins, and Collin Sexton dropped out of the running from 2023. While Kessler was still dubbed as one of the honorable mentions for the 2024 edition, there was no sight of the latter two.

The rank of 33rd also moves Markkanen behind a few eye-catching names, such as second-year Oklahoma City Thunder big man Chet Holmgren (32), Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (31), and New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (27).

Yet, even without much Jazz representation, there's still optimism for what this roster holds for the coming year. Whether that be production coming from Utah's returning veterans, or an emergence of young talent such as Keyonte George and Taylor Hendricks, the Jazz are primed to find more inclusion come this time next year.

In the meantime, this team has a clear rock to lean on in Markkanen for their 2023-24 campaign.

Markkanen and the Jazz will get this season started next week, as their home opener looms around the corner against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, October 23rd.

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