Utah Jazz's Lauri Markkanen Eager to Play With Kevin Love

The Utah Jazz will have a few new veteran faces in the mix for this season compared to last, with perhaps the biggest name of those fresh additions being 18-year league veteran Kevin Love, who comes on after a summer three-team trade with the Miami Heat.

After discussions of a buyout surrounded Love leading up to this season, the veteran big man instead looks prepared to take on the new year in Utah, where he'll be joined by one other former teammate from his time on the Cleveland Cavaliers: Lauri Markkanen.

Markkanen and Love were teammates in Cleveland for one season before the Jazz star would be shipped off to Utah in the summer of 2022. And while a short time together, the two were able to gain some closeness with one another as teammates, now getting to have that same experience once again, albeit in a brand-new team and situation.

Sep 30, 2024; Salt Lake City, USA; Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) talks to the media during media day at Zions Bank Basketball Campus. Mandatory Credit: Utah Jazz via Imagn Images | Utah Jazz via Imagn Images

Markkanen seemingly gained a lot of wisdom from Love in that Cleveland tenure, and even did the same in their interactions with one another while division rivals with the Cavaliers when starting his career with the Chicago Bulls.

Now that the two are joining forces, the Jazz star is looking forward to the opportunity to be with his former vet once again.

"We played in the same division, so we saw each other a good amount my first couple of years in the league. And obviously, got to hang out with him and work out with him a lot in Cleveland. And I think there was a lot of pieces of advice I was able to pick up on," Markkanen said of Love on Jazz media day.

"It was my fifth year in the league when I was there, so I already knew I have still much to learn... Just kind of picked his brain, so we created that relationship early on, and I'm excited to have him back. I get to hang out with him more."

Love has also expressed some of that same excitement that Markkanen's dove into of joining up with his old teammate, mentioning that the two have begun texting frequently leading up to camp, while also noting that he's admired his game from afar ever since he entered the league back in 2017.

"We have a great relationship," Love said during media day. "We've been talking a lot, texting a lot this summer, and really in this past week or so. I went to him early in his career, and it was just me just saying like, he has a real chance. I love his game."

"When we ended up on Cleveland together, that was fun to see that progression, but you could tell that if he was put into a situation where his usage rate was going to be up, and he was going to be able to be one of the main guys on the team with a lot of touches and being able to evolve out of that, that's what you've seen here. And he's been able to be so effective in that."

Now, Love, in year 18, will be joining forces with Markkanen once again, but both in wildly different stages of their careers than how the landscape looked in Cleveland. Regardless, both are clearly pumped for the chance at a reunion in SLC.

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