In an interview with Basketball Sphere, Kristian Palotie shared his thoughts on Miikka Muurinen’s signing with Partizan.
Miikka Muurinen arrived in Belgrade fresh off winning the EuroBasket 2025 Rising Star award. He signed a three-year deal with Partizan, instantly igniting excitement among the fans.
The 18-year-old Miikka Muurinen played a pivotal role off the bench as the Susijengi made history, reaching their first-ever EuroBasket semi-finals, surpassing anything Finland had achieved before.
Muurinen brought a huge energy boost to the team, thrilling fans with some of the tournament’s most spectacular dunks. He averaged 6.6 points while shooting 60% from the field, including 6-of-17 from three-point range (35%).
In just 11 minutes per game, he also contributed 1.9 rebounds, along with 3 steals and 5 blocks across eight appearances.
This marked Muurinen’s second summer with Finland, after posting 2.7 points and 1.7 assists at the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Spain.
Generational talent
Lahti’s head coach commented to Basketball Sphere on Miikka Muurinen’s decision to leave high school and sign with Partizan.
,,I think the talent of Miikka Muurinen is evident for everybody. Not just because he blew up in EuroBasket and more people see it now, but it has been evident for at least 18 months. He’s an incredible athlete with great length and really good rim protection instincts.
He’ll make some mistakes off the ball, he’s still young, but his timing, jumping, raw athleticism, and wingspan are incredible. He’s someone we haven’t seen before in Finnish basketball. I think his ceiling is higher than anybody’s ever, for a Finnish basketball player.
He’s still very raw, so I don’t think many people expect him to be better than Lauri Markkanen, but I believe his ceiling is higher than what Markkanen’s ever was. It’s going to be really interesting to see how he develops.
I can’t say I’ve been following his career for that long. He left for Spain pretty early, and I started hearing about him shortly before he went there. For me, it only became clear about 18 months ago how high-level of an athlete he really is” – Kristian Palotie said.
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Kristian Palotie believes Miikka Muurinen made the best possible decision this summer.
,,I think his move to Partizan is the best thing that could have happened in his career. He’s going to improve a lot more playing there than he would in high school. I assume he made the decision because he wants to get better, though I’m sure finances were also involved. I’m certain he’s making more in Partizan than he would have playing high school basketball.
It’s a great opportunity to develop in a high-level organization, in a EuroLeague team, for a fantastic coach. That makes the choice pretty easy, both development-wise and financially.
He’s already shown his abilities everywhere he’s played, and if he still decides to go to the NCAA, he’ll be able to choose whichever team he wants. After signing with Partizan, he said that even though it’s a three-year contract, the plan is to play for one season, then go to the NCAA for a year, and after that to the NBA. It seems like he has a clear path in mind.
He could still, if he graduates, enter the NBA Draft in 2026, but it looks like he prefers to wait until 2027, when he’ll probably be a higher pick. The 2026 draft seems very strong, and the 2027 one not so much.”
Slim Jesus gonna be a star pic.twitter.com/qQp6oPllID
— J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets) August 29, 2025
Miikka Muurinen – Zeljko Obradovic
The renowned Finnish basketball analyst and commentator also shared his expectations for Muurinen under coach Zeljko Obradovic.
,,We’ll see how Muurinen adapts to the team and how they help him adjust. With such raw athleticism, he’s already going to bring a kind of wild-card element to Partizan’s very talented roster. He’s a young guy whose personality has been shaped strongly in the U.S. over the past couple of years, and he’s really adapted to that environment. Now it’s time for him to adjust to a new situation.
Zeljko Obradovic, of course, is a complete no-nonsense guy. He demands maximum effort and concentration from all his players, and he doesn’t tolerate any kind of lapses or distractions.
I’m sure Muurinen is aware of that as well. It would be a culture shock for almost anyone coming from the U.S. to play for Obradovic, but Muurinen seems like such a tough-minded guy that I’m sure he’ll adjust accordingly.
From a Finnish point of view, I’d honestly pay a lot of money to watch a reality show where cameras follow Obradovic and Muurinen around, just to see their interactions. That would be top-level entertainment for television. But yes, I’ll definitely be following his games closely” – Kristian Palotie said.
