Exploring Lauri Markkanen and Verna Aho's relationship timeline
Lauri Markkanen has been having a great season with the Utah Jazz. He was named to his first All-Star Game this season. He has been on a rollercoaster ride in the NBA, but his wife Verna Aho has been with him from the start.
Markkanen and Aho have been married since 2017. The lovely couple have two children together, a son born in 2018 and another child born in 2020. According to GHBase.com, Aho was born and raised in Helsinki, Finland.
She and the Jazz star met in middle school and have been together since they were teenagers. She has been with Markkanen from the start of his basketball career in Europe and the NBA.
Lauri Markkanen played professionally in Finland from 2014 to 2016 as a teenager. He played for HBA-Marsky, a team in Koripallon I-divisioona, the country's second-tier league.
Markkanen then decided to play college basketball in the United States and committed to the University of Arizona. He played one season for the Wildcats, averaging 15.6 points and 7.2 rebounds.
With his amazing freshman season in Arizona, Markkanen decided to enter the 2017 NBA draft. He was selected seventh overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, with Verna Aho by his side. He was immediately traded to the Chicago Bulls in the Jimmy Butler deal.
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Lauri Markkanen's journey to becoming an All-Star
Lauri Markkanen started his NBA career with the Chicago Bulls. He was in the Windy City for the first four years of his journey. His time in Chicago was good but was filled with injuries and inconsistencies.
The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Markkanen in a sign-and trade three-team deal with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2021. The Cavaliers used Markkanen as a small forward, and it worked for most of the season, as he averaged 14.8 points and 5.7 rebounds in Cleveland.
However, the Cavaliers traded Markkanen to the Utah Jazz last summer in the Donovan Mitchell deal. Some even wrote him out and the Jazz because of the perceived tanking plan of their front office.
Markkanen and the Jazz started the season strongly and shocked the league. They're in the thick of the race for the postseason in the Western Conference. Markkanen became an All-Star for the first time, averaging 24.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
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