Robert Horry isn’t treating Walker Kessler like just another offseason addition for the Lakers. On the Mason and Ireland show, the seven-time NBA champion made the case that the former Jazz center could end up mattering more to the 2026-27 Lakers than Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves.
Horry opened with a joke that still managed to underline how serious he is about Kessler’s fit. “Oh man, it hurts my heart to have to root for an Auburn guy.
You know, it’s just rooting for the Lakers. I said the dang Lakers got me rooting for an Auburn guy,” he said, pointing to Kessler’s college background and Horry’s own Alabama ties.
What has Horry so intrigued is the skill set Kessler brings. “When you watch what Walker Kessler brings to the game, he’s so incredibly skilled, and we haven’t had a big since AD that can block shots like that and pop out for threes. So I just hope he stays healthy,” he said.
That health piece is where the conversation turns. Horry noted the concerns around the Lakers’ top names, saying, “That’s the one thing about our Laker team.
You think about Luka in the playoffs; he wasn’t healthy. AR at the end of the season, unhealthy.
Him missing damn near all season, how much rust has he developed? Will he be able to knock that rust off and come back and be the center that everybody’s expecting to be?”
Then he drove the point home. “So it’s going to be really interesting to see what he can do because he is the key. Not Luka, not AR; he is,” Horry claimed.
Kessler’s 2025-26 season was limited to five games after surgery on his left shoulder kept him out for the year. In those five appearances, he put up 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 70.3% from the field and 75.0% from behind the three-point line.
Even with that optimism around Kessler, Horry stopped short of calling the Lakers a finished title threat after their offseason reshuffling. “I see a lot of guys individually are really good and skilled at what they do. I like to call what we do, people like myself, specialists, and what they have is a bunch of specialists, but it’s going to take a lot of practice time for them to gel and understand who they are together.
“So I’m holding back right now because I want to see them. A lot of these guys you see on teams, and they have a role that might be different with the Lakers. So it’s going to be very interesting- the product they put on the court,” Horry said later on the show.
That’s the heart of the Lakers’ question right now: strong names on paper, but still plenty to prove as a group. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves can light it up offensively, but they also come with defensive questions, and the rest of the roster has to do more than just fill space around them.
Until that side of the equation comes together, it’s hard to label the Lakers a true championship contender. And if Horry is right, Walker Kessler may end up being the piece that tells the story.
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