Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Lauri Markkanen entered a dimly lit room and his eyes grew wide. There were engraved mugs, detailed maps, wizard's chess pieces, Quidditch jerseys — all the things that had once only filled his imagination were right in front of him.
He wanted the lot.
After all, he had just finished walking through Hogwarts (or the closest we mere muggles can get to walking through Hogwarts); he'd seen pictures talk and move, looked through magical classrooms, and even got a taste of how it felt to fly.
"I almost lost my mind," Markkanen said. "I'm like, 'I'm buying everything.'"
The Jazz star forward has a proud geeky side.
Markkanen somehow refrained from bringing the entire gift shop back to Utah from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida when he visited last year. Mostly because he figured he could just buy the stuff online when he got home — he never got around to that, though.
So when he returned last month during the Jazz's annual road trip to Orlando, he made sure to bring home the famed Marauders Map, as well as a specialized coffee mug.
His voice then grew excited.
"I do want one of the cups that when you put a hot drink in, it turns out to be like a Death Eater or something," he said with almost childlike wonder.
He also wants a Platform 9¾ sign to put at the entrance of his basement. His wife, though, has won that battle so far.
"She's not a fan of my crazy habits of spending on Harry Potter," he said.
Considering what used to sit in the Markkanen family garage, you can understand her reluctance.
Until recently, that was home to a life-sized Iron Man statue. Its eyes, arc reactor and palm repulsors (yes, we're using in-universe lingo here) would illuminate, and it stood on a lit-up base. It wouldn't have been a surprise to see Robert Downey Jr. walk out of that thing.
"I got it in Cleveland as my NBA purchase," Markkanen said. "Some guys buy Lamborghinis or yachts, I bought an $8,000 Iron Man. That's probably pretty nerdy."
Probably?
Here's the kicker: It took about 15 minutes after Markkanen was asked about his more fantastical interests for him to get to a 7-foot Iron Man statue. So, yeah, he's pretty nerdy.
So what was said before that?
He pulled out his phone to show off the video of the talking Lego sorting hat he recently built with his 6-year-old son.
"Ah, yes, Hufflepuff!" it said from the video.
"I had to take it a few times to make sure it got the right one," Markkanen said.
He talked about his virtual reality setup, which includes a specialized racing seat for driving games.
"If you're never gonna buy a Ferrari or F1 car," he said, "this is it. It's really, really realistic. If you go too fast you start sliding. That is fun!"
OK, that might not be that nerdy per se, but nobody looks cool with a VR headset on — a 7-foot NBA All-Star is no exception. And he showed off all his favorite photos from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and discussed his favorite Butterbeer variety.
"I like the regular one," Markkanen said. "This time I actually enjoyed the frozen one, because it was a pretty warm day."
His Iron Man statue wasn't his only Marvel collectible, though. He also had a life-sized Captain America shield and a 20-pound hammer of Thor.
"I wanted somebody to hold the shield and let me hit the hammer on it," he said laughing.
"What if I just had (the hammer) next to my nightstand and somebody breaks in? It's like boom!"
That would make one heck of a news headline.
Markkanen recently sold the Marvel collection — a local store connected him with a Jazz fan who was interested — to make room for a weight room in his garage. That might be more practical, but even his teammates were disappointed to hear the news.
"You have a weight room at the facility!" an appalled Micah Potter said.
Not at the Zion's Bank Basketball Center: an Iron Man.
As you can tell from Potter's reaction, Markkanen isn't the only Jazz player with some fantastical fandom.
Walker Kessler isn't shy in describing himself as a "big nerd." He likes popular fantasy books ("Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings," "Eragon"), and his brother got him into a lifelong video game obsession. He and his brother played "Legend of Zelda" growing up and things have expanded from there.
He said his favorite "nerdy" thing is the "Souls" video game series/subgenre by developer FromSoftware.
"I know like the lore and everything," he said. "Not many athletes know about it; I like it. It's my niche thing."
Potter, meanwhile, excitedly talked about his first trip to his namesake's land coming in May. That only makes one story from last season even better. After the two-way forward got into a game, Markkanen walked into the locker room and quoted at him, "Not me, not Hermione, you!"
Nerds.
