Walker Kessler’s Lakers preseason debut had the look of a player quickly settling back into his lane, even after nearly a full calendar year away from NBA game action. In Tuesday’s preseason matchup with Golden State, the big man finished with 11 points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes, and the Lakers clearly felt his presence while he was on the floor.
Kessler, who missed most of last season after shoulder surgery, said the return carried some nerves before tipoff.
“It was a lot of fun being out there again,” said Kessler, who missed most of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery. “It’s been so long.
Before the game I was actually pretty nervous, to be honest. But getting out there and just playing with the guys, it was a blast.”
Even without Luka Doncic in the lineup, Kessler still gave Los Angeles exactly what it wanted from its new starting center. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin noted that the Lakers outscored the Warriors by 15 points with Kessler on the court and were outscored by 27 when he sat.
The feedback from teammates and coach JJ Redick matched the numbers. Sandro Mamukelashvili called Kessler an “amazing” rim protector, while Austin Reaves said the center created “four or five really good looks” for others by rolling hard to the basket. Redick also praised the performance and said he has challenged Kessler to be “relentless” in that role this season.
Kessler framed the assignment in simple terms.
“For me, that means just crashing every time, trying to be a presence in the paint, inside, outside, play hard, don’t take plays off, on the offensive end and defensive end,” Kessler explained. “So that’s going to be my goal for this year.”
Elsewhere around the league, San Antonio offered its first look at a new three-guard starting group on Wednesday against Phoenix, with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper joining Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama. The first five minutes were rough - the Spurs shot just 1-of-10 - but the group had a much sharper finish, and when Fox, Castle and Harper shared the floor for the final three minutes of the first half, San Antonio outscored the Suns by 11.
The early indication is that the Spurs may stick with that alignment to open the season. Based on pregame comments from Mitch Johnson, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News reported that the starting five likely remains the front line for now and could get a fairly long runway. Johnson addressed the skepticism directly.
“I understand the narrative around it,” Johnson said of starting the three guards together, per Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “I always land on the same reasoning at the very end of it, (they’re) three of our better players. I think they can dribble, pass, shoot, defend, make winning plays.”
Detroit also got a strong first preseason look at one of its key frontcourt pieces. Jalen Duren, who didn’t finalize a new contract until two weeks ago after camp had already started, returned to action Wednesday against Minnesota and put up 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting in just 15 minutes.
On the other side of that same preseason window, Brooklyn got a promising outing from Mikel Brown Jr. in its final exhibition game of the fall. The No. 6 overall pick missed the Nets’ first three preseason games with an ankle injury, then came off the bench against Miami and scored 15 points in 18 minutes.
Jordi Fernandez liked what he saw right away.
“Just his pace and how he moves out there, he looked great,” Fernandez said. “And it’s just the first few minutes, so he’s going to continue to get better and build from there.
I love his communication, how engaged he was with his teammates. I thought it was a very well-played 18 minutes for him.”
And in a broader preseason sweep, ESPN’s Ben Golliver took a team-by-team look at one thing the exhibition slate has revealed about all 30 NBA clubs.
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Spurs Just Added A Camp Body And The Next Cut Matters
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For San Antonio, the signing is less about immediate rotation help than about keeping options open as the roster sorts itself out over the next round of cuts. Taylors deal fits that camp competition, and it also mirrors the kind of depth maneuver other teams are making right now, like Sacramento bringing back center Viktor Lakhin on an Exhibit 10 contract to bolster its frontcourt after injuries. [Read more 🡒]