The substitute players for the basketball NBA All-Star Game will be announced the night before Friday at 02:00 Finnish time. Experts believe that representing the Utah Jazz Lauri Markkanen is in that crowd.
The opening five of the All-Star Game were named last week, and Markkanen was barely left out. When the votes of supporters, players and the media were added together, the Finnish gambler was fifth among the frontcourt players. In addition to the three frontcourt players, two backcourt players were selected for the starting five.
The players voted Markkanen the fourth best frontcourt player in the Western Conference, and Markkanen was fifth on the media’s list. Seven substitutes from both conferences will be named for the match.
If Markkanen is selected, he will become the first Finn to play in the NBA All-Star Game.
– It would certainly be a big deal, what has happened in Finnish sports during the first month of 2023. And a lot can happen at the end of the year, so that it would go ahead of the hardest performance worldwide, the first Finn to play in the NBA Hanno Möttölä line.
All-Star Game substitutes are selected by NBA coaches. The match itself will be played early Monday morning, February 20, Finnish time.
– Of course, the choice is the opinion of some, and it’s not black and white, but Lauri’s performances this season have been of such a level since the European Championship that he deserves a place in the all-star match. When the match is still played in the home arena, it is hoped that the western coaches will choose him.
Constellation selection would seal the position
Selection for the star game would probably be reflected in Markkanen’s salary. In last year’s all-star game the average earnings of those who played was about 28.7 million dollars (you switch to another service) in the season.
However, Markkanen’s current contract with the Utah Jazz is valid until the end of the 2024-2025 season, and it increases the Finn’s pocketbook by 16.8 million dollars per year. In last year’s all-star match, the amount would have been the seventh lowest.
Möttölä highlights the importance of choice in the athletes’ brand.
– If you are an All Stars player, you will be one for the rest of your life. In the brand era, value is not only raised by championships, Möttölä begins and then turns his gaze to the future of the Finnish star.
– Of course, it helps whether you are a simple, five-time or ten-time All Stars player. If things continue like this, the next thing we’ll start talking about is whether Lauri will be a Hall of Fame player when his career ends.
– If there are more All Stars selections, this kind of career continues and Utah succeeds, it can result in the best title an athlete can get after the NBA championship. But of course Lauri has a lot of great playing years left!
Basketball and stardom
All-star matches have been played in American professional leagues for a long time, but in many sports they have been criticized in recent years. The glory of the NFL’s all-star game is dimmed by the timing – the game is played just one week before the NFL’s final game, the Super Bowl.
The star event of ice hockey’s NHL is far from its glory in the 1990s. Although the best players are selected for the matches, the star match does not leave much to tell for posterity in terms of its gameplay.
– The best players actually protect their bodies. It’s like a calm yard game, with lots of great performances, but very little defense, Möttölä admits.
Despite that, Möttölä sees that the NBA’s all-star weekend has retained its significance. In his own youth, Möttölä says that he followed the donkey races particularly closely.
Möttölä reminds us that the NBA’s all-star weekend includes much more than just the culminating match of the weekend.
– You can see the stardom there. Basketball culture includes music and stars outside of basketball. Many stars of the American music world come to Salt Lake City, they have private concerts there and held by sponsors, Möttölä begins.
The star weekend kicks off with a celebrity match and a rising stars match on Friday, February 17. Markkanen was part of the rising stars game in his first two NBA seasons.
Möttölä says that he himself received an invitation to the constellation event, which will be held in a place he is familiar with – Möttölä studied at the University of Utah in 1996–2000. The university operates right in the city of Salt Lake City.
– I was already asked to a panel discussion, but I had to announce that it would be a few kilometers to get there. Every year, the NBA invites almost all of us old players. I am one of the European NBA ambassadors, so the invitation will come, but my day job prevents it, Möttölä regrets.
If Markkanen is selected for the match, however, Möttölä plans to follow the match closely from the home stand.
The NBA All-Star Game will be played early on Monday, February 20, Finnish time.