Walker Kessler’s move to the Lakers didn’t happen overnight, and the latest details only make Utah’s handling of the situation look sharper.
On “The Hoop Collective,” Brian Windhorst said the Lakers had gone after Kessler multiple times before finally getting him, but they kept backing off because the price was too steep. That changed when Utah raised the asking price and Los Angeles decided to pay it.
“The Lakers tried to acquire Walker Kessler on several different occasions, and they weren't able to get him because they weren't willing to pay the price. And the Jazz asked, I think, for more now than they had ever asked for before, and the Lakers said yes. And I think the reason is because they knew how badly Luka wanted him.”
That push from Luka Doncic had already been reported shortly after the deal, and Windhorst’s comments added another layer to the story. The Lakers had been interested in Kessler going back to 2024, but they only finally moved when Doncic’s preference lined up with their need for help at center.
From Utah’s side, the timing looks even better in hindsight. Kessler had also been in a position where he could have complicated things by taking the qualifying offer, and the Jazz turned that into a win by flipping him into a haul of Lakers draft capital.
Even with Kessler now in Los Angeles, there are still real questions about what the Lakers actually gained. He can help, sure, but that doesn’t automatically make them a title team. The bigger question is whether they are even clearly better than the Jazz right now.
Back when the Lakers first tried to get Kessler, the setup was different. That was before Doncic was in the picture, and Utah had every reason to be cautious about sending Kessler to a team that already had LeBron James and Anthony Davis. At that point, he could have been the kind of piece that pushed Los Angeles back into contention.
Instead, the Jazz made it clear that getting him would cost a lot, and the Lakers weren’t ready to make that kind of bet then. Their window was tighter at the time, and the price was too rich. Now they’ve made the move, but the path ahead looks less clean than it once did.
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Jaren Jackson Jr. Sees One Mental Hurdle For This Jazz Team
The Jazz head into the new season with a young, talented roster and a clear goal: get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2022. For a group still learning how to win together, Jaren Jackson Jr. sees the challenge less in raw ability than in the daily habits that separate promising teams from real contenders. His playoff background with the Grizzlies gives him a useful frame of reference for what it takes when a rebuild starts to turn into something more.
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