As Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen suffered an injury in Wednesday's practice, there was some talk about the NBA possibly looking deeper into the situation with the team at the forefront of tanking speculation. While there were rumors of the NBA sending doctors to verify the Jazz's injury of Markkanen, the latest reporting has cleared all that information up.
Tony Jones of The Athletic had originally reported that the league is “sending independent doctors to verify.” He would take to X, formerly Twitter, to say that won't happen, but the NBA will monitor the results, though that is “standard practice.”
“Lauri Markkanen is undergoing his MRI, I’m told, so the Jazz should have results coming. The NBA is evaluating the results, as standard practice. They did not send medical personnel to Utah. That part I got wrong. My apologies,” Jones wrote on Thursday afternoon.
Utah is one of several teams that have been accused of tanking, with even the franchise being fined $500,000, due to what the NBA said was “management of their rosters for recent games.” That included the Jazz sitting key players like Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jusuf Nurkic in the fourth quarter when the games were close.
Jazz's Lauri Markkanen is awaiting MRI results
After some time, it would be revealed that Jackson and Nurkic would be out for the season with a knee and nose injury, respectively. Markkanen will get an MRI about the severity of a right ankle and right hip injury, according to Kevin Renolds of The Salt Lake Tribune.
“Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen could miss some time after suffering an injury in practice on Wednesday,” Reynolds wrote on Wednesday. “Markkanen will be evaluated for a right ankle and right hip injury, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. The 7-footer will get an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.”
Markkanen is averaging a team-high and a career-best 26.7 points to go along with 6.9 rebounds per game while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from three-point range. It remains to be seen what the MRI results say about Markkanen.
