The Lakers didn’t just add a center this offseason. They paid for a specific answer to a very specific problem.
Walker Kessler arrived from the Utah Jazz in a sign-and-trade that cost Los Angeles two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps, plus a four-year, $130 million contract. It was a steep price, and one that was labeled the second-worst deal handed out in free agency. But inside the Lakers’ front office, the thinking is simple: they got the defensive anchor they were missing.
“We knew we needed a defensive anchor,” a Lakers executive told Spotrac’s Keith Smith. “Walker can protect the rim and rebound.
Those two things not only help our defense, but it can help trigger our offense too. Last year, we had to gang rebound a lot.
This year, Walker should help get the ball and get us out and running.
“On offense, he’s better than people realize,” the executive continued. “He’s got excellent touch in the paint and around the rim.
The jumper is coming too. He’ll be excellent in the screen game for Luka (Doncic), Austin (Reaves), Collin (Sexton) and Quentin (Grimes).”
That kind of fit is exactly what the Lakers were chasing after the Deandre Ayton experiment last season never really took off. They needed a real center, and the market wasn’t exactly overflowing with options.
Mitchell Robinson was the top unrestricted free agent big man available, though the ideal role for him would have been as a backup. The best names overall were restricted, with Kessler and Jalen Duren sitting near the top of the list.
Los Angeles ended up landing one of them.
Kessler’s brief 2025-26 sample with Utah was eye-catching before injury cut it short. In five games, he averaged 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 70.3% from the field and 75.0% from beyond the arc. The numbers came in a tiny sample, but they still hinted at a player who can do more than just stand in the paint and wait for rebounds.
His season ended in November 2025 after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, and that naturally raised some concern after the trade. Kessler has since said the shoulder feels better than ever, and he’s eager to get back on the floor.
That matters for a Lakers team that finished 27th in rebounds per game last season at 41.0. Kessler’s rebounding and rim protection should help fix both ends at once, especially with Doncic and Reaves running the backcourt. On paper, he gives them the kind of presence they simply didn’t have.
The offensive side could be just as important. Doncic has a reputation for bringing the best out of the bigs around him, and there’s a case to be made that Kessler is the best one he’s played with. Doncic reportedly pushed hard for Kessler, which says plenty about how the Lakers see the partnership developing.
Then there’s the jumper. Kessler went 6-8 from beyond the arc for the Jazz last season, and if that touch carries over, it changes the shape of the Lakers’ offense. Kessler has also said JJ Redick wants him to shoot more threes, and he plans to do exactly that.
He knows what the Lakers gave up to get him. He knows the expectations. And according to the source, he’s ready to run through a brick wall for his new team.
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