Lauri Markkanen was a split-second from registering one of the wildest buzzer-beaters you’ll ever see

The Sacramento Kings have had their share of wild finishes this season, a number of them not going their way. On Tuesday, it was yet another crazy ending, but this time Sacramento got the break it needed to escape with a thrilling 117-115 victory over the Jazz. 

De’Aaron Fox goes down as the hero with 37 points, 22 of which came in the fourth quarter, and the game-winning bucket with 0.4 seconds remaining, clearing everyone out and blazing past Lauri Markkanen. 

Fox’s shot was nearly upstaged by what looked like one of the craziest buzzer-beaters you’ll ever see. After Fox scored, the Jazz, who were out of timeouts, had to launch a full-court pass, which Markkanen, after sneaking up the sideline, caught cleanly and, in one motion, basically redirected the ball to the hoop from 3. All net. 

Sure, there’s some luck in that shot, but that kind of touch from that angle also speaks to Markkanen’s pure shooting skill. It’s a shame it didn’t count. Upon further review, you can see that the ball is indeed still in Markkanen’s hand, with the backboard alit in double-zero red. 

I will say it’s interesting that we examine these buzzer-beating shots with absolute precision yet pay almost no mind to whether the clock actually started at precisely the right moment. This shot should’ve counted if the clock operator was a tenth of a second early in hitting the switch. I watched the play about 10 times. It looks like the clock operator was on time. It’s just a side thought I had. 

Nonetheless, with the win, the Kings improved to 20-16, as they currently own the Western Conference’s No. 5 seed.