Utah Jazz star forward Lauri Markkanen missed Monday's game against the Kings due to a back injury. The Jazz fared surprisingly well without their best player, though, as they managed to beat the Kings by a final score of 128-120 behind 27 points from Ochai Agbaji. And in other good news for Jazz fans, a recent injury update indicates that they won't have to wait much longer for Markkanen to return to the court.
Markkanen fully practiced with the Jazz on Tuesday, per a tweet from Underdog Fantasy's NBA account. Utah's next game is on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Markkanen, 25, is in his sixth year in the NBA and first as a member of the Jazz franchise. He's averaging 25.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game across 63 appearances this season (all starts).
The Finland native is shooting the ball with incredible accuracy from the field in the 2022-23 campaign, at least by his standards — Markkanen's current 50.3% field-goal percentage is the highest of his pro career by a wide margin.
Here's to hoping that Markkanen will be able to play on Wednesday because every game counts for the Jazz at this point of the season. The team is holding onto the last playoff spot in the Western Conference by only a thread, as the Los Angeles Lakers are a half-game behind the Jazz in the standings. But on the bright side, the Jazz have a somewhat easy schedule to wrap up the regular season, as seven of their final 11 games will be at home.
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