Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen won the 2022-23 NBA Most Improved Player award.
He became the first player in franchise history to receive the award.
Markkanen (7-0, 238, Finland) averaged a career-best 25.6 points (12th in the NBA) on 49.9 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from outside the arc, along with 8.6 boards, and 1.9 assists in 34.4 minutes per game. , boosting his points per game by more than 10+ from 2021-22. Markkanen totaled 16 games with 30 or more points during his first season at Utah, having only scored 15 in his previous five NBA campaigns. He was one of only six players in the NBA to average 25 points and eight boards in 2022-23 (playing at least 60 games) along with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, Julius Randle and Jason Tatum.
The 25-year-old earned his first All-Star selection in 2022-23, starting with Giannis during All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City. Markkanen became the first player in NBA history to hit more than 200 threes, while throwing more than 100 dunks in a single season. His 200 three-point kicks were the most in a single season from a seven-tail in NBA history. He recorded 23 games with more than 20 points and 10 boards last year, which was the 10th most in the NBA.
The Finland international has scored three games with 40 or more points, including a career night against Houston on January 5, in which he scored 49 points on 15-of-27 from the field, becoming just the fifth player in Jazz history to score. 49 or more points (Dantley, Malone, Maravich, and T. Robinson) and was the first Jazz player to total 40 points and 10 rebounds in a single season since Karl Malone in 1997-98.
The first Utah player to be named Most Valuable Player, Markkanen became the seventh international to be named Most Valuable Player, joining Pascal Siakam (2018-19), Giannis Antetokounmpo (2016-17), Goran Dragic (2013-14) and Boris Diaw (2005-06), Hedo Turkoglu (2007-08), and Gheorghe Muresan (1995-1996).