If it weren't for the late John McCain, Lauri Markkanen's career path may have taken a different route.
The 21-year-old rising Bulls star went on Twitter on Sunday morning to thank McCain, who passed away from brain cancer on Saturday, for helping him get a visa to play basketball in the United States.
Here's what Markkanen had to say:
A big Arizona Wildcats fan, McCain offered his assistance to Markkanen prior to the 2016-17 college basketball season.
“There was some delay in getting him a visa,” McCain told ABC News’ Rick Klein and ESPN’s Andy Katz in March 2017. “Obviously he had to have a student visa and there was a question about whether he was a student or not in Finland. I’d like to tell you it was the hardest struggle I ever had. Actually, we just kind of weighed in and said, ‘hey, how about expediting this’. It was not as big a deal as I would like it to be.”
The rest is history.
NBA
Markkanen would go on to have a stellar year with Arizona, leading the Wildcats to a Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. He would declare for the NBA Draft after the season, getting selected by the Bulls with the seventh overall pick.
Thank you, John McCain.