Among the tributes for John McCain after his passing, Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen thanked the late senator for helping him obtain a United States visa.
Rest In peace @SenJohnMcCain, I will forever be grateful for you helping a kid from Finland get a visa to live out my dream of playing basketball in the States
— Lauri Markkanen (@MarkkanenLauri) August 26, 2018
In 2016, Markkanen traveled from Finland to the United States, where he played collegiately for one season at Arizona.
The 7-foot forward would go on to be selected No. 7 overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2017 NBA Draft.
“He was having trouble with his visa and they went to our office and we helped out with the visa,” McCain told ABC in March of 2017.
“He had to have a student visa, and there was some question about whether he was actually a student or not in Finland. […] We just kind of weighed in and said, ‘Hey, how about expediting this?’”
Great mtg @UofA basketball fwd Lauri Markkanen of #Finland who my office helped secure a visa to pursue his athletic goals in #AZ! #BearDown pic.twitter.com/fnWAzRcqGz
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) October 13, 2016
