The Utah Jazz made an understandable decision when they traded Walker Kessler. They now own the Los Angeles Lakers' draft capital for the foreseeable future, and they knew they couldn't keep this team together for long. But the fact remains that they traded an excellent player, and to a conference rival no less.
Up until recently, there wasn't much commentary from the Jazz's end. Jazz President of Basketball Operations' Austin Ainge commented on the Kessler trade in an excluvie interview with Eric Spyropoulos.
“ We really valued Walker. Walker's a good player. We were planning on keeping him. But that offer got high enough that we thought it was the right move to make for the Jazz for building a championship team."
That last sentence there is an interesting tidbit. They traded Kessler away because they think it will help them win a championship? No one's saying they won't win it all after trading Kessler, but they traded away a highly valuable piece for a lot of draft assets and a trade exception.
Without Kessler, it's hard to see how they do that, but hey, Utah is playing the long game, so while they are without their double-double machine and rim protector, they have the assets to get a replacement and maybe even a potential upgrade.
We're going to see how they replace Kessler
There still is plenty of excitement surrounding the Jazz this season depsite no Kessler. Even if this should be their best season in years, they also have absolutely no pressure on them to win a championship. At least, for this season, but this will likely change soon enough.
And what will definitely factor into that is how they approach replacing Kessler. Perhaps they think Jaren Jackson Jr. will do that, or they think their center by committee approach will be effective enough to keep them at bay for the time being.
The fact remains that there aren't that many players who play like Kessler, which is why the Lakers gave up as much as they did to get him. But it doesn't mean they can't effectively replace him. They may rely on who they have now or think outside the box to make it work.
It may not necessarily mean right now, but the Jazz front office clearly believes that even with everything Kessler would have brought to the table, they can move forward without him smoothly. Here's to hoping that they know what they're doing.
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