Back in December, as Arizona prepped for a late-night tipoff against UC Irvine, UA coach Sean Miller walked into McKale Center donning a T-shirt that made Finnish freshman Lauri Markkanen smile.
The shirt had โa lot of Finnish wordsโ on it, Markkanen said.
โI thought it was pretty funny,โ he said.
Markkanen smiled Thursday while thinking of that memory, and his adjustment to college basketball. Markkanen declared for the NBA draft on Thursday, flanked by his father, Pekka, and Miller. Heโll spend the next few weeks in Finland, his first time home since he moved more than 5,000 miles from Jyvaskyla to Tucson. It will be a brief but much-needed respite after a long basketball season that, Markkanen admits, ended too early.
โPlaying in the NBA has been a dream of mine,โ Markkanen said, โso Iโm happy and excited to announce that Iโve declared for the NBA draft.โ
Markkanen has spent most of his lone season at Arizona projected as a first-round pick, rising as high as the top 10. DraftExpress currently projects Markkanen as the No. 8 pick in the first round. The 7-footer showed flashes of greatness during his one season as a Wildcat, averaging 15.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 42.3 percent from 3-point range.
Miller said he had a feeling he was coaching his latest one-and-done NBA prospect. Markkanen is the fourth freshman in the Miller era to declare early, following Grant Jerrett (2013), Aaron Gordon (2014) and Stanley Johnson (2015).
Arizona is still awaiting NBA decisions from freshmen Kobi Simmons and Rawle Alkins and sophomore Allonzo Trier. Miller said Thursday that theyโll โdeal with those guys individually.โ Simmons, for one, is expected to leave.
Miller said the inevitability of Markkanenโs departure doesnโt make it any easier to handle.
โIโve been up here with a number of guys and itโs obviously a bittersweet moment for these guys,โ Miller said. โI think itโs a dream come true in many ways and yet โฆ it feels like this guy right here just got here.โ
Miller said he supports Markkanenโs decision โ100 percentโ and mentioned that feedback from NBA executives indicated that he would be a high draft pick.
Itโs not hard to see why.
Markkanen is a 7-footer who can shoot. He led the Wildcats in both 3-point shooting and rebounding, and finished second, to Trier, in scoring. Markkanen was first-team All Pac-12; The Associated Press recently named him a third team All-American.
โItโs been a unbelievable year,โ Markkanen said. โI had so much fun.โ
Added Miller: โItโs bittersweet today, anytime you see anyone realize his dreams and you recognize the bright bright future he has in this game, Iโm just happy we were a part of it. He gave us a lot, and hopefully on our end weโve given him some things we can always remember.โ
Markkanen made the decision a few days after returning to Tucson following last weekโs Sweet 16 loss to Xavier.
โI was hoping all season that it (the NBA) would happen,โ he added, โbut I tried to concentrate on basketball and winning as many games as possible.โ
Pekka Markkanen said his son has yet to pick an agent. Before Markknanen, the only Finnish basketball player to play in the NBA was Hanno Mottola, a Utah alum who spent two seasons in the league.
Mottola was a second-round pick of the Atlanta Hawks, Markkanen is considered a lock to be Finlandโs highest-ever drafted player.
โItโs an amazing feeling, but hopefully thereโs more to come from Finland and I think thatโs going to happen,โ he said.
Pekka Markkanen only recently accepted that his son will likely be a first-round draft pick.
โSometimes I feel like Iโm too pessimistic; I have tried to learn to find positive things to tell,โ he said. โItโs been pleasant to see.โ
When Markkanen arrived in Arizona, he didnโt know much about the Wildcats, about the culture in the Old Pueblo. His English wasnโt great, and he was a little shy.
โI think I got better at small talk,โ he said, smiling. โFinnish people are little bit more shy, but I just really enjoyed the year.โ
Shortly after his press conference, Markkanen recorded the latest video entry for Arizonaโs intro video that plays before all home games at McKale Center.
Soon, heโll be back on his way to Finland, then, soon, to New York for the draft. Heโll hear his name called.
โHeโll be, for our fans, theyโll be proud of him like they were proud of Steve Kerr and Aaron Gordon and all the great players who have come through here,โ Miller said. โTheyโll watch him for many, many years, in my opinion, be successful in the NBA.โ
Added Markkanen: โIโm looking forward to it, itโs a big step and a big challenge for me and Iโm ready to go and do my best.โ
