The Utah Jazz have had a turbulent 2025-26 season. After losing multiple players with season-ending injuries and having to pay a league fine for tanking, franchise centerpiece Lauri Markkanen was supposed to be given an MRI for an injury he sustained during a game. Now, the most recent update reveals concerning details that the team needs to power through.
“Utah’s Lauri Markkanen will be re-evaluated in two weeks after an MRI on Thursday showed symptomatic hip impingement with associated inflammation and bone bruise,” ESPN insider Shams Charania reported on X. “Markkanen also twisted an ankle in practice Wednesday but those tests returned clean.”
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A team that has consistently dealt with injuries now needs to watch their cornerstone sit for at least two weeks while waiting to be reevaluated. This is a huge setback for Markkanen, who has been having his best scoring season to date. After a down season last year, when his average fell to 19 point per game, he’s up to 26.7 points on solid efficiency, leaning more into an inside-scoring playing style instead of his more well-known three-point heavy diet.
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The injury itself it not a good sign for the Finnish forward. Hip impingements usually result when the bones in hip joints rub abnormally, leading to the inflammation referred to by Charania, as well as restricted mobility. Now add a bone bruise to that, and recovery timelines become far less predictable.
Before the Jazz’s matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans, head coach Will Hardy explained how Markkanen’s injury occurred.
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“It was an awkward landing going toward the basket,” Hardy said. “[He] tweaked his ankle, sort of jammed his hip, so he was pulled from practice, and he’s getting looked at now.”
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NBA Involvement in Lauri Markkanen’s MRI Reportedly Overstated
One of the side stories that went on as Lauri Markkanen’s injury surfaced was a report that the league would be sending their own medical team to Utah to confirm the severity of Markkanen’s injury. Many connected this to the $500,000 fine that the team received for tanking, when they intentionally benched Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of two games in order to improve their lottery odds.
However, according to the most recent report from The Athletic‘s Tony Jones, the NBA is evaluating his MRI results as they usually would instead of sending personnel to Salt Lake City, which was wrongly reported.
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The Jazz currently owes their first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they retain protections if the pick falls within the top eight, which is the reason that they’re willing to lose games. If the Jazz can secure an asset in the 2026 draft, it improves their future by giving them a promising player or trade chip.
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