Lauri Markkanen scores career-best 51 points in OT win against Suns

Lauri Markkanen was hoping the game would end before he had a chance to hit a new career-high. He would have been perfectly fine with 44 points and the win after regulation.

“You never think about like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go for 50,’” he said. “But obviously, when it’s overtime and you’re at 47 and they start fouling, you kind of start thinking there’s a good chance that it’s going to happen.”

And happen, it did. Markkanen scored a career-best 51 points to go with 14 rebounds on Monday night in a 138-134 Utah Jazz overtime win against the Phoenix Suns.

His teammates doused him with water and he was awarded the game ball for his new career mark. The last time that happened was Jan. 5, 2023 in Houston when his previous career-high of 49 was set during his first and only All-Star season.

Though Markkanen didn’t set out to score 50 on Monday, he did admit that now that he’s done it, the allure is there to want more.

“You get hungrier as it happens,” he said. “So hopefully it’s not the last one.”

If the last few days are any indication, we could be headed for more of these kind of games around the NBA.

The young 2025-26 NBA season has been marked by wild scoring performances. We’re less than a week into the calendar and Markkanen’s 51-point game marks the fourth 50-point game of the season.

The Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (55), as well as the Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon (50) both hit the mark last Thursday night, and the Lakers’ Austin Reaves scored 51 on Sunday.

“The offensive explosion is nothing new in the league,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said before Monday’s game against the Jazz. “I think it’s a little surprising here early in the season. I’m not sure that that’s been the trend over the last couple years.”

The trend continued with his team on the wrong side of the result on Monday, to the delight of Markkanen’s teammates.

“That’s crazy,” Ace Bailey said. “In my rookie year, too — my teammate. No, that’s something special, and the crowd was chanting ‘MVP’ for him. I feel excited for him. It’s crazy.”

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Bailey mentioned that he hadn’t watched too much of Markkanen before joining the NBA ranks, but after the last few weeks of being his teammate and having a front-row seat on Monday night, he wished that he’d been more locked in on Markkanen before now.

“It was unbelievable effort all around, but, I mean, 50 points is insane,” Walker Kessler said as he scanned the box score. “I’m super proud of him. He was hooping — golly, plus-26 is insane! Golly, yeah, that’s insane. That’s crazy."

Markkanen made it to 50 doing a little bit of everything on Monday. He was 14-of-32 overall, 6-of-13 from 3-point range and a perfect 17-of-17 from the free throw line.

“e also came away from the overtime match looking like he’d been in a fight, with his arm bleeding and a swollen lip.

Jazz head coach Will Hardy said Markkanen is the perfect example for the team’s younger players.

“He hasn’t asked for anything. He doesn’t complain on the play where they didn’t throw it to him. He encourages them,” Hardy said. “He’s got the bloody lip, and he’s got the big scratch on his arm, and he comes to the huddle and he’s just as focused as anybody in the huddle.

“I think that’s what we want our young guys to see — that you’re going to have to push through and it’s not always going to be pretty and easy and just smooth jumpers all day to score a bunch.”

Markkanen said he’ll dry off the game ball and take it home, where it will have a special spot next to some of his other NBA mementos. But he’s looking forward to the next one.