{"id":561054,"date":"2026-01-26T02:41:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T02:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/561054\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T02:41:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T02:41:30","slug":"nba-rumors-wizards-ready-to-make-big-walker-kessler-offer-but-jazz-are-optimistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/561054\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA rumors: Wizards ready to make big Walker Kessler offer, but Jazz are \u2018optimistic\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA rumors: Wizards ready to make big Walker Kessler offer, but Jazz are \u2018optimistic\u2019<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Utah Jazz have rejected trade offers for Walker Kessler<\/a>, will the Washington Wizards<\/a> swoop in with a deal ahead of the deadline? Despite the fact that Kessler is ruled out for the season<\/a> with a shoulder injury, many believe the Jazz will bring him back via free agency in the offseason.<\/p>\n

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However, there is talk around the league<\/a> that the Wizards will try to make a deal with the Jazz for Kessler, according to Sports Illustrated\u2019s Bryson Akins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (Jazz) are optimistic Walker Kessler<\/a> will be back in Utah, and they have final say due to his restricted free agency\u2026the word around the league is the Wizards are fairing to make him a significant offer,\u201d Akins reported.<\/p>\n

The Wizards, who recently acquired Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks, could be looking to pair the All-Star guard with the promising 7-foot-2 center. Kessler has averaged a double-double in the last two of his four seasons with the Jazz, including 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game in only five games in 2025-26 before his season-ending shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Walker is expected to see a significant pay raise. The fourth and final season of his rookie contract is worth $4.8 million.<\/p>\n

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Jazz reportedly turned down trade offers for Walker Kessler\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter Creveling-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Jazz are hoping to re-sign Walker Kessler during the offseason when the center will be a restricted free agent. However, that didn\u2019t stop the Pacers from trying, as they\u2019ve made offers<\/a> recently, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.<\/p>\n

\u201cKessler will be a restricted free agent in the summer, and the Jazz continue to signal that they hope to re-sign him after first capitalizing on their projected salary cap space in the offseason\u2026 despite the fact that the sides\u2019 negotiations on a rookie scale contract extension before the Oct. 20 deadline for such deals were marked by a significant gulf.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYet, the repeated signals emanating from Salt Lake City indicate that Utah wants to keep Kessler have not stopped Indiana from expressing trade interest in the promising big man,\u201d Stein reports.<\/p>\n

The Pacers lost their former starting center, Myles Turner, via free agency to the Bucks last summer.<\/p>\n

Related: What Charles Barkley said on air about Minneapolis killings<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: NBA\u2019s Pacers-Hawks, 76ers-Hornets schedule changes due to bad weather<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA rumors: Wizards ready to make big Walker Kessler offer, but Jazz are \u2018optimistic\u2019 appeared first on ClutchPoints.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3785],"tags":[208,7,76450,896,113,423,367,6,114,7106,5592,494,422,427,3972,1405,468],"class_list":["post-561054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-utah-jazz","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-basketball","tag-bryson-akins","tag-free-agency","tag-indiana","tag-jazz","tag-myles-turner","tag-nba","tag-pacers","tag-restricted-free-agent","tag-the-jazz","tag-trae-young","tag-utah","tag-utah-jazz","tag-utahjazz","tag-walker-kessler","tag-washington-wizards"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115959096272172560","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}