Walker Kessler has proven himself with the Utah Jazz, but there still seems to be some uncertainty surrounding whether the team plans to keep him long-term. There have been some whispers that Kessler’s sticking around isn’t an open-and-shut case. One of the very few ways the Jazz would entertain a trade for Kessler is if they get a golden pick for him, and one team that could offer is the Indiana Pacers.
Bringing up the Pacers sounds random, but it turns out, they may very well be a Kessler suitor. KSL’s Ben Anderson revealed that Indiana has liked Kessler, which makes sense considering what they lost. Here’s what Anderson had to say about the situation on the “Jazz Notes” podcast, and transcribed by SLC Dunk’s James Hansen.
“I’ve heard the Indiana Pacers have inquired about Walker Kessler for a long time …. a lot. That’s going back to the summer, they’ve lost Myles Turner… before the injury and even after the injury… This is no one with the Jazz, but other people who have similar jobs to me have heard similar things,” Anderson said.
But would the Jazz really hand over Kessler to the team that was one win away from an NBA title six months ago? No, but they would consider trading Kessler if it means getting a high lottery pick from the Pacers this year.
The Jazz would think about trading Kessler for a high lottery pick
The Jazz have been in an unwinnable situation this year: they haven’t been nearly as bad as they were last year, but they haven’t stepped it up too much to be a surefire playoff contender, which makes it hard to pinpoint where exactly they’re going this season.
The Pacers, by contrast, have been indisputably terrible, which is what happens to teams that lose their best player for the season with an Achilles tear (further exacerbated by Myles Turner’s departure). So it makes sense that they would want Kessler, who’s not the same player as Turner, but can replace what he does in the aggregate (and is arguably an upgrade).
If the Pacers keep up this pace (no pun intended), they are in line for a high lottery pick. However, they are a team that has shown just how lethal they can be at full strength, so what would be the point of developing young talent for them, which would take time, when their full-strength roster is ready to win now? That’s where trading a high pick for a high-impact, ready-now veteran like Kessler wouldn’t be the worst move for Indiana.
It would absolutely take more than Kessler to get a deal done, but that only adds to its beauty. The Jazz have plenty of assets to offer to the Pacers that they could later use to get more reinforcements besides Kessler.
Even if it’s not for sure that Kessler is sticking around, Utah has the leverage in what happens next in his career. A betting man would say he’s saying a Jazzman, but if the Pacers come a calling and they put a high lottery pick from a loaded class on the table, that’s one of the few scenarios in which the Jazz would make an exception.