The Los Angeles Lakers are trading for Utah Jazz restricted free-agent center Walker Kessler to pair with Luka Dončić, according to ESPN. Kessler is expected to sign a four-year, $130 million deal with Los Angeles.
The Jazz are reportedly getting back unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030.
The Lakers created a massive hole at center the moment they traded for Dončić. While the deal itself was a home run, it cost them Anthony Davis, and since his only backup at the time was Jaxson Hayes, they had little size to work with immediately after completing the deal. They acted swiftly at the trade deadline to pursue a long-term big man, trading several draft assets to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Mark Williams, but once they got a look at Williams up close in his physical exam, they elected to nix the deal.
Last offseason, they signed Deandre Ayton, hoping that the former No. 1 overall pick could be their center of the future. While Ayton improved throughout the season, his inconsistent defense, rebounding and effort made him more of a stopgap than a true solution. With the potential to create genuine max cap space this offseason, the Lakers made it their top priority to find a big to pair with Dončić.
In Kessler, the Lakers are taking a chance on a player they have been linked to for several years now. Kessler is, statistically, one of the most dominant rim-protectors in the NBA. He is an elite offensive rebounder as well, and while the volume is tiny, there have at least been flashes of his potential as a 3-point shooter. He is offensively limited, but is going from a Jazz team that has largely never had strong veteran point guards to a Laker team led by Dončić. He has room to grow on that end of the floor, though his 54.5% shooting from the free-throw line is a significant red flag.
The Jazz, meanwhile, are about to turn a corner from perpetual rebuilder to possible Western Conference contender. However, after re-signing Lauri Markkanen to a max contract in the 2024 offseason and then acquiring Jaren Jackson Jr. at the trade deadline, they have quite a bit of money invested in their front court. Couple those investments with a rookie extension for Keyonte George, who is now eligible for one, and the Utah roster was about to get pretty expensive if they kept Kessler.
Lakers: C+
Lakers had to make the deal, but paid the price to do so.
This is a huge commitment to Kessler and shows the belief the Lakers have in him as the ideal center to pair with their star backcourt of Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. The Lakers were desperate to land the kind of center Dončić has been clamoring for since he arrived and they paid a hefty price to make it happen.
In a vacuum, $130 million, two unprotected firsts and two pick swaps is a lot for Walker Kessler. I am skeptical there’s much more of a ceiling for him than what we’ve already seen, and when you add in the injury issues, there is some real risk here for Los Angeles. A lot of people will see that and grade this even more poorly than I am, but I can at least see the vision (and the spin) from the Lakers’ side.
That said, the best way to explain this for the Lakers is to view it in combination with the Dončić trade. Now, the assets you spent all make sense. They were able to acquire Dončić without having to expend much of any draft capital, so to keep him happy and get him his preferred center, it’s fine to overpay. There was real pressure on L.A. to get Kessler (or Jalen Duren, who was even less available as a restricted free agent in Detroit) and they weren’t about to go through another summer trying to paper over the hole in their frontcourt.
On the court, the fit makes sense. Kessler isn’t the bouncy athlete that Dončić loved playing with in Dereck Lively II, but a strong screener and big lob target who doesn’t need (or even want) the ball in any other scenario is the ideal offensive pairing for Luka — and Austin Reaves. Defensively, the Lakers desperately need a rim protector to anchor things in the paint, given the limitations of their backcourt, and Kessler will give them that.
The task for J.J. Redick is optimizing the Lakers’ defensive strategy to maximize Kessler’s abilities on that end. Expect a heavy dose of drop coverage to keep Kessler near the rim, where he’s most effective, and the Lakers will need to figure out how to scramble coverages and be crisp with switching and communicating to keep him close to the paint.
The problem for the Lakers? Given how much money they’ve now committed to Dončić, Reaves and Kessler, that trio has to be good enough to win a championship with filler around them. They’ve exhausted their resources to put this group together and there won’t be many opportunities to add high-end talent beyond that trio.
Rob Pelinka is now all-in on this group and the pressure is on to bring an 18th title to L.A. with this core. They will need those three to hit their absolute ceilings to make that happen, and color me skeptical that this is a roster good enough to deliver.
Jazz: A
Utah continues stockpiling draft picks in perfectly played negotiations.
The Jazz played this incredibly well — with an assist from the Detroit Pistons. They set their line with Kessler in extension talks and didn’t budge, and with the Pistons making it clear they were going to match anything on Jalen Duren as well, the Lakers had to pay big to prevent Utah from doing the same. Kessler had been in trade rumors for more than a year and the Jazz never had to take a discount to move off of him — or sign him to a deal they didn’t want.
Getting two unprotected firsts way down the road in 2031 and 2033 is big. While the Lakers tend to just roll from one star to the next, those are the most valuable of L.A.’s available picks. Utah keeps stockpiling quality draft assets, with an incoming first-round pick or swap rights in six of the next seven drafts — 2032 is the only one without. Swaps can be a bit of fool’s gold, but they are still valuable trade assets and this deal opens up more avenues for Utah to acquire players both through the draft and in trades.
On the court, the Jazz will take a hit, which is why I don’t give this a full A+. There isn’t an obvious pivot away from Kessler on the market after the recent run on bigs, and while they created some insurance by re-signing Jusuf Nurkić, they will miss Kessler’s rebounding and rim protection. We’ll see some small-ball lineups with Jaren Jackson Jr. at the five and the Jazz will likely sign another center to add depth, but for a team planning on taking a leap next year, losing Kessler will lower their ceiling for 2025-26.
That said, even if they’re ready to take a step forward now, this is still a team thinking long-term. They can keep evaluating their roster and figure out the best possible fit for their young core, which now features No. 2 overall draft pick Darryn Peterson, and have the ammunition to be aggressive when an opportunity presents itself to add a big man in the future.