Timo Saarelainen

{{Short description|Finnish basketball player (born 1960)}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Timo Saarelainen

| image =

| number = 33

| position = Small forward

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 6

| weight_lb = 210

| league = Korisliiga

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|8|23}}

| birth_place = Helsinki, Finland

| high_school = PHYK - Pohjois-Haagan Yhteiskoulu

| college = BYU (1980–1985)

| draft_year = 1985

| draft_round = 5

| draft_pick = 115

| draft_team = Los Angeles Lakers

| career_start =

| career_end =

| years1 = 1976–1980,
1983–1986

| team1 = Helsingin NMKY

| highlights =

• Finnish League champion (1983)
• WAC Player of the Year (1985)
• First-team All-WAC (1985)
• AP honorable mention All-American (1985)

| HOF_player =

| FIBA_HOF_player =

}}

Timo Saarelainen (born August 23, 1960) is a retired Finnish basketball player. He was a member of the Finnish national basketball team for seven years and was a star college player at Brigham Young University (BYU) in the United States.

Saarelainen, a 6'6" small forward from Helsinki, played for Finland's national teams from 1978 to 1984, competing for Finland in the qualifying tournaments for the 1980 and 1984 Olympics. He was Finland's leading scorer for four years.{{cite news| last =Appleman| first =Marc| title =How Good Is BYU's Saarelainen? Aztecs to Find Out | newspaper =Los Angeles Times| date =January 31, 1985| url =https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-01-31-sp-5100-story.html | access-date = July 31, 2012}} He came to the United States in 1980 to pursue his degree at BYU. While there he went to two NCAA tournaments and as a senior in 1985 was named the Western Athletic Conference player of the year. That season he averaged 22 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for the Cougars. For his BYU career, Saarelainen scored 932 points in 100 games.{{cite web | title = CougarStats.com profile | publisher = CougarStats.com | year = 2012 | url = http://www.cougarstats.com/hoops/players/s.html | accessdate = July 31, 2012 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120519110803/http://www.cougarstats.com/hoops/players/s.html | archivedate = May 19, 2012 }}

Following his BYU career, Saarelainen was selected in the fifth round of the 1985 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, but did not play in the league.{{cite web| title=basketball-reference.com - 1985 NBA Draft | publisher = basketball-reference.com | year = 2012 | url =https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1985.html | accessdate = July 31, 2012}} Saarelainen played six seasons for Helsingin NMKY of Korisliiga, Finland's top professional league.