Over the weekend, the Cavaliers’ brass completed a difficult deal – sending Larry Nance Jr. to the Blazers in a three-team deal that eventually netted them Lauri Markkanen, a 24-year-old seven-footer with a world of potential.
Markkanen – who starred in his single season with Arizona before being tabbed with the 7th overall pick of the 2017 Draft – grew up in Vantaa, Finland, the country’s fourth-most populated city, and both his father (Pekka) and mother (Riikka) played professional basketball.
On October 20 – when Cleveland tips off the 2021-22 campaign against the Grizzlies in Memphis – the young Finnish big man will join new teammates, Cedi Osman (Turkey), Ricky Rubio (Spain) and Mfiondo Kabengele (Canada) on a docket of former foreign-born players who’ve worn the Wine & Gold – the subject of today’s Cava-List.