Utah Jazz’s Lauri Markkanen Sees Historic Run End with Finland

Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen has officially seen his run for a gold medal in the 2025 EuroBasket tournament come to a close.

After making an unprecedented push to the EuroBasket tournament semi-finals, Markkanen and Finland have fallen to Germany, 86-98, officially sending them to play for a bronze medal, while Germany will go on to face the winner of Greece vs. Turkey on Friday.

GERMANY 🇩🇪 ARE THE FIRST FINALISTS OF #EUROBASKET 2025
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) September 12, 2025

It was a game that Germany managed to have control of from beginning to end, showing signs of Finland's previous loss to Germany in the group stage of the tournament, which Finland dropped in a 20-point blowout.

This time wasn't quite as ugly, but it still finishes Germany as the one on top with a win in double-digit fashion. Dennis Schroder led the way as the game's leading scorer with 26 points, five rebounds, and 12 assists.

During his 27 minutes on the floor, Markkanen had 16 points on 6/17 shooting, paired with eight rebounds and an assist.

Lauri Markkanen is world-class.#EuroBasket | #MakeYourMark pic.twitter.com/ANGjeIyp38
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) September 12, 2025

Not quite the ideal outcome to fall with just two wins away from winning the whole tournament. But when factoring in the latest loss in the books with a bronze still on the table, taking a step back to look at the historic proportions of Markkanen and Finland's run will show that it turned out truly impressive.

Markkanen led Finland to its first-ever appearance in the EuroBasket semi-finals since competing as a country, while also being a part of one of the more impressive upsets in recent international basketball history over Serbia and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. In all, Finland has a 5-3 record in the tourney with one match to go, ending up among the more inspiring storylines to take note of throughout.

All things considered, an extremely positive turnout for the Jazz star, even without a gold or silver, and one that cements him as perhaps the greatest player in Finnish basketball history.

Markkanen dunks during Finland's semi-finals game vs. Germany in EuroBasket 2025. | via FIBA.com.

For his time in the tournament, Markkanen finished averaging the third-most points within the tournament behind just Giannis Antetokoumpo and Luka Doncic, paired with nearly eight rebounds and over two assists a game. Impressive stuff from the Jazz's own.

Now looking ahead, Markkanen will have one more game to play for bronze on Sunday vs. the loser of the second contest between Greece and Turkey, then have a couple of weeks off before getting the motions of the Jazz's next season going, with training camps set to tip off around the league at the end of September.

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