Lauri Markkanen Broke Two Bones in His Shooting Hand: What It Means for the 1-10 Jazz
The Utah Jazz announced Wednesday that Lauri Markkanen has two nondisplaced fractures in his right hand and will be reevaluated in four weeks. ESPN’s Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon reported he will be out at least a month.
The injury happened Nov. 6 in Dallas, where he was hit on the hand during the game. The initial X-ray showed nothing. Scans taken after the team flew home found the fractures.
Here is the cruel detail. That Dallas game was his best shooting night of the season: 24 points and eight 3-pointers, on a hand with two broken bones in it.
He Was Already Hurt
Markkanen sprained the same wrist on Oct. 26 against Memphis and left after six minutes with two points. He missed one game, came back, and played four more before Dallas. Nobody has said whether the sprain contributed to the fractures.
Will Hardy watched him play 39 minutes in an overtime loss at New Orleans on Nov. 4 and described it this way: “He’s digging in. I think he’s playing through a lot of pain right now. He’s battling for his teammates and us.”
That is a coach talking about a player who probably should not have been out there. Utah is 1-10. There was nothing to battle for.
The Jazz Were Already Broken Before This
Utah has lost nine straight and sits last in the Western Conference, tied with Milwaukee and Sacramento for the worst record in the NBA. The lone win was a 120-119 result over New Orleans.
Markkanen is the third significant piece down. Jaren Jackson Jr., acquired from Memphis in February in an eight-player trade, tore the MCL in his right knee in that same Oct. 26 Memphis game and is out six to eight weeks after four games in a Jazz uniform. Jusuf Nurkic has not debuted at all because of a partial plantar plate tear in his right foot from an Oct. 4 preseason game. Keyonte George sprained his right ankle on Nov. 8.
Hardy was asked how he replaces 18 points and nearly seven rebounds a night.
“There’s no replacing Lauri,” he said. “I think we’re going to have to do it in different ways. I think we need to maximize the skill sets of all the players that are playing.”
What Utah Actually Has Left
Darryn Peterson, the second overall pick out of Kansas, was the only healthy starter when the Markkanen news broke. He scored 25 against Miami and put up 26 points, six rebounds and four assists against Minnesota with a career-high four 3-pointers. Ace Bailey had 23 against Miami. Josh Green, acquired from Minnesota in August, may keep starting at small forward.
NBC Sports’ Eric Samulski reported that Markkanen’s usage shifts to Peterson and Bailey. For a 1-10 team with nothing to protect, that is not the worst outcome available.
The Bigger Problem Is the Contract
Markkanen is 29 and turns 30 in May. He is earning $46.1 million this season on a five-year, $238 million deal that runs through 2028-29, with roughly $150 million left on it and no options.
He also has not played more than 66 games in a season since Utah traded for him, and he played 89 games total across the last two years. He appeared in 42 games last season.
Sean Deveney of Heavy wrote on Nov. 2 that Utah would likely want two first-round picks for him. Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report called a Golden State trade “a little bit far-fetched right now,” noting the Warriors would essentially have to attach Draymond Green to make the salary work.
No named reporter has Utah shopping him. The front office’s last real move was buying rather than selling, when it sent four players and three picks to Memphis for Jackson in February.
The Jazz did not announce any surgery. They will look at the hand again in December, by which point this season will have answered its own questions.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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