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SALT LAKE CITY — Lauri Markkanen knew what was coming when he walked into the press conference room Friday at the Utah Jazz practice facility.
"Are there going to be any basketball questions?" he quipped as he sat down.
Kinda, sorta? But we'll get to that.
The sporting world was captivated by the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off that concluded with the Canada-USA overtime thriller on Thursday night. The tournament that was mostly contrived as a midseason appetizer for next year's Olympics took on a life of its own.
Fueled by geopolitical undercurrents and being the first best-on-best hockey international tournament in almost a decade, the event caught lighting in a bottle.
"I've played in some really big games, and this is the biggest one," USA and Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said ahead of Thursday's title game.
He played in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last summer.
The interest level around North America backed up his claim. There was wall-to-wall coverage on ESPN, President Donald Trump called in to give the Americans a pre-game pep talk, and the games were some of the most-watched non-Olympic hockey events ever.
"Nothing's done more for hockey in a decade than what this tournament's done," Team Canada coach Jon Cooper said.
That begs the question: Can there be an NBA equivalent to the 4 Nations?
"I don't know what the format would be," said Markkanen, who sported Finland's 4 Nations jersey walking into a Jazz game last week. "Would it be the World against the US or North America? Is it going to be France? I think (the 4 Nations) is a really good format, and it's meaningful games for the break. You always want to fight for your country, so it'd be cool."
Four countries currently have 12 or more players in the NBA — the United States, Canada, France and Australia. But just rolling with those four would leave out many of the top international players like Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece). That's immediately a non-starter for the league.
But what if a Team Europe was assembled? Or a Team Africa for players from Africa or with African ties?
You could have Team USA, Team Canada, Team Europe and Team Africa and then use the same format as the 4 Nations Face-Off (a round robin and then a final).
Markkanen, at least, thinks something like that would work — especially because he'd feel a similar pride representing a European squad as he does putting on a Finnish jersey.
"Not quite the same, but like it's up there for sure," he said. "It's like a brotherhood. You see a European guy on the other team, you talk with them after the game, and it's almost like you know each other and you're from the same country. You're not, but just sharing something coming to the States. And I think it's a thing that connects people. So definitely we feel prideful representing Europe."
And doing so with a chance to beat the Americans? Well, that sounds pretty good to him.
"It would be fun," he said.
Such a tournament could serve as a break from an NBA All-Star event that seems to becoming a yearly punching bag. The NBA tried to inject some more fun in this season's midseason classic by changing it into a mini-tournament format.
But, shocker, playing for Shaq, Chuck or Kenny doesn't bring the same passion as wearing — or rooting for — your country's colors.
While the games themselves were mostly fine, the event highlighted the biggest problem with the NBA All-Star event: In a three-hour broadcast, there was around 30 minutes of game time.
Less basketball, more fluff and advertisements. Less about fans and more about corporations and investors. It's tough to blame the players for not fully investing in the game when the NBA itself seems to care so much more about everything else happening around it.
Markkanen remembered waiting out a 90-minute draft show during the 2023 All-Star Game in Salt Lake City before immediately having to take the court. The league's broadcast partners had to squeeze just a little more content in before the game.
"And you get two minutes to warm up or whatever," he said. "So it's kind of hard to always come up with some things, get a little bit more warm and get ready to play and compete."
So for the most part, the players don't like it. They didn't when it was East-West, they didn't when it was a draft, they mostly didn't when things went to a tournament style.
Maybe they would if they got to wear their country's (or continent's) jerseys.
And maybe the NBA would allow a real game to actually be played.
