Basketball | Finland’s top prospect Miikka Muurinen, 17, is eyeing the NBA booking event – quite a few sports genes from his parents

Piece The recent history of the Finnish national basketball team sat in the stands of the Kisakallio training center in Lohja last Monday, watching how the future of the national team ran on the court.

Ended his national team career ten years ago Kimmo Muurinen43, leaned his elbows on his knees and watched as his son Miikka Muurinen17, made it through the first men’s national team practice of his life.

“It was as I assumed it would be. Very high level, high speed”, Miikka Muurinen summed up after the training.

For a moment it was visible. But it was also clear why Muurinen, who turned 17 in March, believes he will play his first men’s international match “next year at the latest” and why he says without hesitation that he has never faced a better player than himself in junior national team games.

Muurinen was the tallest and widest of those who played in training – according to his own account, he was 210 centimeters tall and 218 centimeters across his lap – but versatile in terms of sports and movement skills.

Head coach of the national team Lassi Tuovi put his words even more boldly when asked when Muurinen’s debut can be expected.

“Yes, he needs to take the attitude that it will happen this summer. He wouldn’t have been taken to this camp if it wasn’t believed that he could break into this team. Usually we see brakes and threatening images, but in this case I’m eagerly waiting for it to happen as soon as possible”, said Tuovi.

This summer would mean the next two weeks, during which the national team will play two preparatory matches before qualifying for the Olympics in Valencia in early July.

Miikka Muurinen can’t say when exactly he got excited about playing basketball, because he played at his parents’ games since he was a baby. Muurinen’s 186-centimeter mother Jenni Laaksonen represented Finland in 68 women’s international matches and played in the American university league in North Carolina and, in addition to Finland, in the women’s leagues of Germany and Spain.

Muurinen’s father, Kimmo Muurinen, played 156 men’s international matches and toured several European leagues in addition to American university fields. Kimmo Muurinen, 202 centimeters tall and 217 centimeters across, was one of the key players of the national team for more than a decade, until he ended his playing career at the 2014 World Cup.

Jenni Laaksonen coached her son for years in Järvenpää’s junior teams.

“Demanding, loud. She wanted me to be as good as possible, pushed me to be good,” Miikka Muurinen describes her mother’s coaching.

Muurinen left the Finnish junior league two years ago and moved from Finland at the age of 15 to play for Madrid’s Zentro Basket.

“Yes, coaching is different from Finland. It’s a completely different world.”

Last year, Muurinen collected 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and two blocks per game in the under-16 A-Division European Championships. For the last season, he moved to the United States to Sunrise Christian High School, where he also Miro Little has spent one season.

Muurinen has not attended American high school for two years. After them, he plans to play at an American university – but only for one year, if everything goes as planned. After that, his intention is to register for the NBA draft.

“That’s my long-term goal,” says Muurinen.

What does he think he needs to develop in order to achieve the goal?

“Ball handling, lateral movement in defense. And much more power.”