Jazz Star Lauri Markkanen Reveals Will Hardy's 'Harsh Truth' Behind Closed Doors

An All-Star selection and a reported $238 million contract haven't spared Lauri Markkanen from criticism.

Will Hardy still tells the Utah Jazz forward when he's wrong — sometimes even calling after games to discuss his mistakes.

And Markkanen seems to appreciate every bit of it.

The 29-year-old opened up about his relationship with Hardy in a Sunday interview with The Salt Lake Tribune's Shreyas Laddha, revealing that his coach hasn't been afraid to challenge him throughout their four seasons together.

"He tells me the harsh truth sometimes, like I’m messing up or whatever," Markkanen told Laddha. "So I love to have that, and I like [to have] a coach who coaches me hard and pushes me."

Those conversations go both ways.

Hardy has called Markkanen after games to discuss what went wrong, while Markkanen has reached out himself to ask how he could better help the team.

Considering Utah's record over the last four years, they've certainly had plenty to discuss.

Their relationship started with a conversation before Markkanen's first season in Salt Lake City.

Hardy was preparing for his first year as an NBA head coach in 2022 when Markkanen arrived as part of the Donovan Mitchell trade. The Finnish forward had just averaged 27.9 points and 8.1 rebounds at EuroBasket.

Hardy wanted that same aggressive scorer in Utah.

"That really hit me," Markkanen recalled.

After averaging 14.8 points during his final season in Cleveland, Markkanen put up 25.6 per game in 2022-23. He made his first All-Star appearance and earned the NBA's Most Improved Player award.

The Jazz won 37 games that season.

Four years into Hardy's tenure … that's still the most they've managed.

Utah followed with 31, 17 and 22-win seasons, respectively — leaving Markkanen as the face of a rebuild that has produced far more lottery appearances than meaningful games in April.

He stuck around anyway.

Markkanen agreed to a reported five-year, $238 million contract renegotiation and extension in August 2024, with his belief in Hardy and Utah's front office helping convince him to stay.

Their relationship has since developed into a friendship — though that hasn't earned Markkanen a free pass when his coach sees something he doesn't like.

With Jaren Jackson Jr., Keyonte George and No. 2 overall pick Darryn Peterson surrounding Markkanen, Utah enters this season with expectations beyond another trip to the lottery.

The calls will probably keep coming. Markkanen has made it clear he wants them to.

And after four seasons of losing … it'd be nice if those conversations started leading somewhere beyond another lottery pick.