The Utah Jazz have been without fourth-year center Walker Kessler on the floor for just over a month following his season-ending shoulder injury that will force him to the sidelines until the 2026-27 season.
But even while he might not currently be on the floor for the Jazz in games, Kessler is apparently remaining fully engaged and involved with the team behind the scenes as he dives into his rehab process.
Jazz head coach Will Hardy recently spoke on the current status of his big man while he’s remained in rehab, where the overall takeaways remained pretty positive.
“Walker’s been very engaged,” Hardy said of Kessler. “He’s at all of our team events. He’s at practice. He’s in film. He’s here at the games. He’s hearing the messaging to the team. He obviously is watching film on our games, but the biggest priority right now for Walker is to establish his rehab.”
Oct 29, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (front) drives against Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (rear) during the second quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images
As for how Kessler’s been handling the process, Hardy also believes that the big man has been keeping his upbeat self. Of course, it’s far from a recovery without its challenges, but for the strenuous process that is rehab from a season-ending surgery, he seems to be traveling that road pretty well.
“He seems like the same special Walker that he always is,” Hardy said. “His personality doesn’t seem different to me. I know that there’s, for sure, natural frustration of not playing, but I haven’t noticed any type of, you know, downturn in terms of his emotions.”
Walker Kessler’s Recovery Going Smoothly
Before going down with his injury, Kessler was off to an extremely hot start to this season putting up 14.4 points and 10.8 rebounds a night in the five games he was active for.
He’ll be heading into restricted free agency later this summer, that’ll inevitably land him a second contract past his rookie deal, and more than likely ink a long-term contract with the Jazz to remain a fixture of their frontcourt in the future.
Just a month into his recovery, Kessler, to this point, is still yet to travel with the team on their road trips while he stays in Salt Lake City to stay focused on his recovery and rehab process. Hardy says he wants Kessler to join the team on the road eventually, but that still remains a bit of time away.
“Similar to Taylor [Hendricks], like, of course, I want Walker around the team, rehab can be very isolating, and I don’t think that’s good for Walker. But [traveling to road games] will be a little bit further down the road as his rehab gets more established.”
So far, so good for the young Jazz big man, as he continues to work diligently behind the scenes in anticipation of next NBA season.
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