Shortly after the Utah Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, on the shoulders of a 38-point career-night from Lauri Markkanen, his teammate officially started the public campaign for Markkanen to become an NBA All-Star.

Jarred Vanderbilt didn’t mince words and didn’t try to beat around the bush.

“Lauri Markkanen is an All-Star,” he wrote on Twitter. “That’s it.”

Currently, Markkanen is ranked 7th in points per game (22.2) among frontcourt players in the Western Conference and is second in that group in field goal percentage (54.4%). The only player in the NBA with as many points per game and a higher effective field goal percentage than Markkanen (61.1%) is Stephen Curry (65.2%)

The Jazz needed every bit of fight from Mike Conley on Friday night, they needed all of Malik Beasley’s 27 points off the bench, they needed every ounce of defense from Vanderbilt to eek out the 134-133 victory over Phoenix, and still, the team knew that Markkanen was the star of the show.

Before we get to how effective Markkanen was on the offensive end, it’s important to note how important he was defensively. The boxscore will show just one block for the 7-footer, but he also had a number of timely deflections and his ability to switch onto smaller players and stay with them continues to improve and impress from game to game.

“He’s been just as impressive as an athlete, having not been around him before, as he has a basketball player,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “I don’t know what the ceiling is on Lauri. I don’t think any of us do, but I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen it yet.”

Offensively Markkanen was masterful in carving up the Suns defense. His awareness of screens and seams and his timing off the ball is one of the things that stands out as sensational.

Let’s not forget that Markkanen is 7-feet tall and he’s able to cut backdoor and sneak around on the court like he’s a 6-foot-1 guard. Below are some of the clips of his off-ball movement, which includes his timing and use of screens as a shooter.

“He causes a lot of problems with his ability to read the game off the ball,” Conley said. “We’ve had more actions with him slipping to the rim and getting layups and dunks than we’ve probably had in a long time. He’s a really smart player and with his height and size, he can finish over a lot of people and still make plays for other guys on the weak side.”

None of this is by accident either. Markkanen has worked to try to be a better cutter and to become more nimble without the ball and Hardy has put him into a system that rewards that work.

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“It probably doesn’t match the package that it comes in,” Hardy said. “I guess like you look at him and you wouldn’t assume that he’s that mobile and that nimble. Like, his footwork, it’s not just like the speed in a straight line. It’s his footwork in tight spaces and ability to change direction.”

Markkanen has had good seasons in the past. He had 35-point nights with Chicago and a 31-point game with Cleveland, but it’s not just about the points. His efficiency, his usage and his confidence are at an all-time high on the this Jazz team. But more importantly, there’s no one around the Jazz that think we’ve seen the best of Markkanen yet, including Markkanen himself.

“I‘m definitely not satisfied,” he said. “There’s a lot of things I can do better.”

Markkanen left the arena with the game-ball and noted that he hopes it’s not the last game-ball he gets. Asked what he would do with it, he said he’d take it home, but that his kids would probably end up playing with it.

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