Rick Carlisle: Mavs 'Hoped' to Draft Lauri Markkanen, Compares 'Closest' to Dirk Nowitzki

Former Mavs coach Rick Carlisle told reporters the team "hoped" to draft Lauri Markkanen in 2019, then compared his play style to Dirk Nowitzki.

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki provided the Dallas Mavericks and NBA with 21 memorable seasons worth of impact during his career. Between being a quicker threat early in his career and later developing his unstoppable one-legged fadeaway while popularizing being a seven-foot perimeter shooting threat throughout, he became one of the most transcendent talents the game has ever seen. 

If you want to see someone who is the "closest" thing to Nowitzki since he finished playing, go watch Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz, says former Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, who is currently coaching the Indiana Pacers. 

“He’s the closest thing that I've seen to Nowitzki in terms of a seven-footer that can really stretch the game out and play inside," Carlisle said. 

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Carlisle praised Markkanen's rare ability to stretch the floor from the perimeter while being a threat inside the 3-point line. It's challenging to handle Markkenen from a matchup standpoint, considering he's too quick for bigs to handle, and he can use his size against smaller defenders. 

“(He’s) a 7-footer that can really stretch the game out and play inside. He’s underrated as an athlete. And his length is really special, and the efficiency with which he catches the ball and gets rid of it, shoots it — he just like catches it up here and just goes like this from like anywhere,” Carlisle said. “People have tried to put bigger guys on him, smaller guys on him, he shoots over the smaller guys, he’s out-crafts the big guys.”

“So, he’s tough. He’s a much tougher player than what you may think looking at him," Nowitzki explained. "He’s tall, slender, angular, but he’s rugged. So he’s a major, major problem.”

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Markkanen, who was selected No. 7 overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, had Carlisle and the Mavs "hoping" he would still be available by the time the team was on the clock ready to make a selection with the No. 9 overall pick, which became Dennis Smith Jr. A factor in him not being on the board was his impressive athletic testing results.

“We were hoping for some way he would have fallen to us at nine. But after we worked him out, it was pretty clear to me that it was unlikely to happen because he tested much better than expected athletically,” Carlisle said. “Much more powerful, much more — all those different metrics.”

It's worth noting that Markkanen reportedly "privately wanted to land" with the Mavs in 2021 when the team had a significant amount of salary cap spending room, but there was some thought of too much overlap in terms of skill set with Kristaps Porzingis. 

Markkanen's rare combination of shooting ability, coordination, and off-the-dribble skill enable. Jazz coach Will Hardy utilizes him in various actions like pick-and-pop, being a Rip screener before a handoff, shooting coming off Flares, being an inverted pick-and-roll ball handler, coming off pin downs, and much more.  

“Will’s a super creative offensive coach, and they do things that are completely different than the entire league is doing because of Markkanen’s abilities,” Carlisle said. “And that’s how it was in Dallas, too; we were doing things with Dirk because there was no one else like him.”

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While a relative comparison can be made between Nowitzki and Markkanen being seven-foot perimeter shooting threats, it's important not to undersell the dominance Nowitzki provided the Mavs as a mid/short-range shot creator, along with his overall skill-set as a lethal scorer. Regardless, Carlisle clearly wasn't describing the two as a direct match but the two certainly share some similarities. 

Nowitzki shared his perspective on how his impact on basketball will be remembered in the long term, whether 20 or 40 years from now. He highlighted how he'd likely be considered for his ability to stretch the floor and play in mid-range "a little bit" while being a scorer. 

"Probably just the ability to shoot at the seven-foot frame. That was really my strength, of course, doing little other things, but people always remember me for my ability to stretch the floor and play in the mid-range a little bit — some of my fadeaway shots. So that's really what I brought to the game," Nowitzki said in August. "I wasn't a great rebounder, defender, none of that. I was a scorer at heart, and I always wanted to score for my team and get us going, and that was the best part of my game."

I asked Dirk Nowitzki at his Hall of Fame press conference in Connecticut for his view on how his game may be viewed when observers reflect on his impact 20, 40+ years from now.

"Probably just the ability to shoot at the seven-foot frame. That was really my strength, of course,… pic.twitter.com/IntScvtvt3

— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) August 11, 2023

It'll be fascinating to see what Markkanen will manage to elevate his game to as the focus of the Jazz's rebuilding efforts. He earned an All-Star starter nod last season, averaging 25.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. His production has been very similar this season, averaging 24.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists, positioning him well to be an All-Star again.