Utah’s Lauri Markannen says his body ‘has taken some hits’ during Finland’s preparation for the World Cup

The FIBA World Cup is always an exciting time to see the planet’s greatest basketball icons come together and fight for their own nation’s pride. Nevertheless, as most stars play in the NBA and have endured long seasons before the international competition, they risk dealing with injuries and missing out. 

Finland is expecting great things from their basketball team during this upcoming tournament, as they depend on Utah big man Lauri Markkanen. The European center has been dominating in their recent tune-up matches ahead of the World Cup, but it has taken a toll on his body.

In one of their last friendly games against Lithuania, Markkanen scored 32 points, won 11 rebounds and handed out 4 assists. However, he told the press that he had taken ‘some hits’ during the contest and should recover before taking on more exhibitions.

Take a look at his highlights from this week’s match which ended in a 4-point loss for Finland:

“My body has taken some hits in recent games. I’d love to play tonight, but after morning practice we had internal talks and decided that it’s best to give the body a few days to recover before we leave for World Cup,” the Jazz star said as he decided to sit out yesterday’s game against Latvia.

Even though it seems that Markkanen will be fully healed for the World Cup this month, Utah fans might not feel too happy to know that he might not return recovered for the team’s training camp in September.

Reports have flooded recently explaining why the All-Star foward is next on the list to extending his contract with the Jazz franchise, as NBA insider Michael Scotto has confirmed.

“Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen is a renegotiation and extension candidate for next year to keep an eye on, from what I’ve heard,” he wrote.

As for Jazz rookies Taylor Hendricks and Keyonte George, they’re expected to both be ready for their first NBA training camp after dealing with injuries this summer.

“I will say I feel pretty good right now,” Hendricks said last month. “It’s just, you know, I don’t feel 100%, so we didn’t really want to push anything and force summer league play, and then have to worry about me being out for training camp. But right now I feel good. And I’ll be ready for training camp.”

Analysts say Utah are ‘sitting pretty’ this offseason as they’re aware they already have a strong young core for years to come

The Jazz are comfortable ahead of next season as they know they’ve invested in a young core that should improve for the years to come. According to NBA insider Keith Smith, they are ‘sitting pretty’ and haven’t done too many moves this summer.

“Utah is sitting pretty,” Smith posted. “They’ve got all of their core players under contract, with a ton of potential cap space. Some of this spending power could be used to renegotiate and extend Lauri Markkanen’s deal. That’s en vogue at the moment, with Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, as well as Jazzman Jordan Clarkson, having inked such deals in the last year.”

The Utah Jazz have cleared rookie guard Keyonte George to resume all on-court activities after spraining his right ankle. 🏀#TakeNote #NBA https://t.co/mixwnqUZny

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 15, 2023

Smith believes that the Utah franchise have the third-most cap space heading into the upcoming campaign

“If Utah chooses to let things play out with Markkanen, they could be a major player in free agency, as they’ve got a ready-to-win roster,” he assured.