Jazz's Lauri Markkanen Dishes Thoughts on NBA Draft Lottery

The Utah Jazz did have their struggles to navigate throughout the 2024-25 season, but with it comes a premier spot in the summer's NBA Draft Lottery, giving them a great shot to land one of the best prospects in this offseason's incoming group of young talent.

Of course, it's an exciting time for Jazz fans who endured the entire stretch of the team's brutal 17-win season, but there's some similar excitement brewing from the player's perspective on the roster as well.

For Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, the lottery is always a fun event to be around, and while he may not have a chance to be a part of things in Chicago later this month, he's looking forward to seeing how things unfold.

"I've always been a fan of that, so I'm kind of excited to wake up in the morning and see what happens," Markkanen said of the draft lottery. "See how the timing goes, maybe I'll get to go, maybe I won't. I was there for when I was getting drafted, it was a pretty fun event to be around. There's a lot of former NBA players you get to see and hang around with. Those are always fun times, but I don't think I'll be paying that much attention. I'm going to be working down in Finland most likely."

The Jazz enter this year's lottery with much higher stakes than years past. Thanks to their efforts across the season, Utah has now positioned itself to be atop the league in terms of best lottery odds, tied with a lead for the best chances at number one with 14.0% odds, while the lowest their first-round pick can fall is to fifth overall.

For a Jazz rebuild looking for as much high-end young talent as they can find, having such a premier draft asset at their disposal is massive, and depending on how the cards fall, could even lead to Utah's first-ever number-one pick in franchise history.

The last time Utah got its hands on a top-five pick was back in 2014 when Dante Exum was drafted fifth overall, so this moment has been a long time coming.

While the clear number one choice would likely be Duke's Cooper Flagg, other appealing names resides right behind him on the board like Rutgers duo Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, Baylor's VJ Edgecombe, and Texas' Tre Johnson will also make their respective case for the Jazz's selection, depending on where Utah's top selection ultimately falls.

For Markkanen and the rest of the Jazz, in the meantime, it'll just be a waiting game between now and when their verdict comes to form for their first-round pick later next month.

The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery will take place on Thursday, May 12th in Chicago, IL.