{"id":618976,"date":"2026-02-23T02:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T02:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/618976\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T02:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T02:05:15","slug":"walker-kessler-free-agency-update-is-great-news-for-lakers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/618976\/","title":{"rendered":"Walker Kessler free agency update is great news for Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walker Kessler free agency update is great news for Lakers<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Walker Kessler was linked to the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> on last season\u2019s trade market, but a trade never came to fruition.<\/p>\n

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Although the same occurred during this year\u2019s trade season, the dynamic 7-foot-2 Utah Jazz<\/a> center remains a player analysts and insiders believe could eventually land with the Lakers. Based on a recent free agency report regarding Kessler, the Lakers could be in great shape<\/a> to secure Kessler\u2019s services this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere’s what I’ll tell you: the Jazz have a number in mind. I think they are comfortable in the $25 million per range, and Walker Kessler and his reps at CAA believe he’s worth much, much more than that,” ESPN\u2019s Tim MacMahon said on Feb. 11.<\/p>\n

“Now, some options have disappeared. But I’m just telling you, that’s going to be a potentially very tense and extended restricted free agency process.”<\/p>\n

If Kessler and the Jazz are unable to reach a new deal (he\u2019s in the final year of his four-year, $13.37 million rookie contract), Los Angeles should be prepared to steal the Auburn product from Utah by paying him what he\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n

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It isn\u2019t far-fetched to suggest Kessler will be an All-Star in the foreseeable future, as his smooth touch around the rim and elite shot-blocking chops have been on full display in the big leagues.<\/p>\n

Kessler, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury at the beginning of the year, averaged 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game with the Jazz this season, shooting 70.3% from the field in five contests.<\/p>\n

The Jazz\u2019s inability to lock in their standout center for years to come could benefit the Lakers this summer.<\/p>\n

More NBA:\u00a0Bombshell Kawhi Leonard trade report is exciting news for Warriors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walker Kessler free agency update is great news for Lakers originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,423,251,150,6,5592,4136,10453,422,427,3972,1405],"class_list":{"0":"post-618976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jazz","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-the-jazz","14":"tag-tim-macmahon","15":"tag-trade-season","16":"tag-utah","17":"tag-utah-jazz","18":"tag-utahjazz","19":"tag-walker-kessler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116117498921018186","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618976","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=618976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}