Signing Center Walker Kessler Has to Be the Top Priority for the Utah Jazz
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They can't go back to free agency; that is a dark, dark place for a small-market team.
Every day that passes without Utah Jazz and star center Walker Kessler having reached an agreement lures the franchise closer and closer to the pit. The deep, vast pit of despair that is NBA free agency. It's a horrible place for a small market franchise like Utah, who isn't exactly as much of a draw as a team like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, or Miami.
A much smaller budget and an unpopular location do not constitute an ideal destination for talented big men across professional basketball, so the fact that Utah holds the rights to Walker Kessler, perhaps one of the most highly sought-after centers in the NBA, is a minor miracle. And one that cannot be relinquished right before the dawn of a new era of competitive hoops in the Beehive State.
Originally obtained as an asset in the Rudy Gobert exchange with Minnesota, Kessler is a shot-blocking machine and one of the premier rim-protectors in all of basketball (not named Victor Wembanyama, of course). It was a major stroke of luck for a team to pick up one of the most appealing big men in the league as a throw-in for their previous starting 5, but the contract negotiations between Kessler's team and the Jazz have me a little anxious.
After rejecting an offer in the ballpark of five years and $140 million (an amount that I would do practically anything to receive, for the record), Kessler's camp believes that they can get even more, whether from the Jazz or a mystery suitor through free agency.
Considering the Los Angeles Lakers' perpetual infatuation with the Jazz big, and their pockets deeper than the Potter vault at Gringotts Bank, it's incredibly hand-wringing to consider the fact that restricted free agency gives any prospective buyers the opportunity to price the Jazz out of consideration.
I don't feel so good.
If the Lakers overpay for Kessler, do the Jazz bite the bullet, or hope to recreate him in the aggregate like Brad Pitt in Moneyball?
In 2024-25, Kessler's last healthy season, he averaged the second-most blocks and fifth-most rebounds per game as a sophomore. The Jazz added former Defensive Player of the Year and block champion Jaren Jackson Jr not to replace Kessler, but to pair alongside Utah's starting center. That tandem is the plan, and I'm certain that Utah's front office has every intention of signing Kessler this offseason to see that plan through.
But it's not always that simple, and this offseason has just provided more evidence that this season, it will not be that simple. The Jazz don't want to overpay, and Kessler's side is pushing their luck. All we can do is hope both sides can come to an agreement, and soon.