Jazz Mailbag: How High Can Markkanen Climb All-Time List?

SALT LAKE CITY – Welcome to the Utah Jazz mailbag where this week we look at where Lauri Markkanen could wind up on the franchise’s all-time best players list.

Each week we will send out a prompt on X asking for the questions you have about the Jazz.

Then, we’ll respond to as many as we can in that week’s mailbag.

Mailbag: How Far Can Markkanen Climb Jazz All-Time List?

Yo @BensHoops mailbag question for you: now that we’ve locked Lauri up long term, where do you think he’ll sit on the all time Jazz player rankings assuming he sticks out his whole contract?

— Alex (@AEC_PA) August 27, 2024

Question: Now that we’ve locked Lauri up long-term, where do you think he’ll sit on the all-time Jazz player rankings assuming he sticks out his whole contract?

Answer: Let’s start by looking at where Markkanen ranked in our Jazz 50 list released last summer where local media members voted on the 50 greatest Jazz players of all time.

After just one season in Utah, Markkanen had already vaulted to number 17 on the list, ahead of contemporaries like Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson, but behind fellow one-time Jazz All-Stars Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur, and Gordon Hayward.

What those All-Stars had that Markkanen has not yet reached is postseason success. Hayward led the Jazz to a series win on the road over the Los Angeles Clippers, while Kirilenko and Okur helped lead the Jazz to the Conference Finals, though neither was a top-two player on the team.

Related: Utah Jazz Top 50 Players Of All-Time

Supposing Markkanen plays out the next five years of his career in Utah where he is under contract, I think it’s a safe bet that he’ll add at least one more All-Star appearance, and will taste the playoffs, if not win a few series.

By adding those two things to his resume, I think Markkanen easily takes his place as the tenth-best player in Jazz history.

Cracking the top nine will be more difficult.

1. Karl Malone
2. John Stockton
3. Pete Maravich
4. Adrian Dantley
5. Donovan Mitchell
6. Rudy Gobert
7. Deron Williams
8. Mark Eaton
9. Carlos Boozer

All nine players had some combination of extended tenures with the Jazz, multiple All-Star appearances, end-of-season awards, All-NBA or All-Defensive Team selections, or playoff success.

But, that’s not to say the list is impenetrable.

Lauri Markkanen’s 49 points are the most by a @utahjazz player in the regular season since Karl Malone in April of 1998.#TakeNote | @kslsports
pic.twitter.com/M7JkKYN6dN

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) January 6, 2023

Donovan Mitchell is the fifth-ranked player on the list (I think he should be behind Gobert) thanks to three All-Star appearances, but never made it past the second round of the playoffs.

Markkanen could very realistically add two more All-Star appearances in the next five seasons, and with a little postseason success, would have a resume that rivals Mitchell.

It’s also worth noting that barring a significant number of missed games, or a regression in his game, Markkanen would likely become only the fifth player in Jazz history to score 10,000 points in Utah, trailing only Malone, Stockton, Dantley, and Darrell Griffith.

He’d also wind up as the team’s all-time leader in three-pointers made, and currently ranks fourth all-time in points per game at 24.5 over two seasons.

To top it off, he’s already one of the Jazz’s most efficient players scoring at a high rate from the floor, the three-point line, and the free-throw line, and he never turns the ball over.

Lauri Markkanen movement shooting at 7’0 pic.twitter.com/quJp6gaCR4

— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) July 3, 2024

So, with that in mind, Markkanen has nowhere to go but up, and should continue to climb up this list.

However, one reason Markkanen might not find his name as high as the Jazz’s top-five players all-time is that to earn the postseason success that he will eventually be judged on, the team may need another future top-five franchise player on the roster to make a deep playoff run.

Thus Markkanen may establish himself as one of the best players in franchise history, but not the best player on his own team over the next five seasons, that is if Jazz fans get lucky.

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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops or on Instagram @BensHoops.

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