The Utah Jazz will have homecourt advantage when Walker Kessler enters restricted free agency. However, with someone like him, teams may still force the Jazz to pay up if they plan to keep him because he is that good. In fact, some teams may look at him as the guy who can vault them back to the top. One who has been floated as a Kessler suitor (for the second time) is the Indiana Pacers.
Dallas Hoops Journal's Grant Afseth confirmed the Pacers' interest in Kessler. He explained why the Pacers would want someone like him.
"Additionally, one name that the organization has already conducted its due diligence on is Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler, sources told DallasHoopsJournal.com. Kessler is among centers that franchise cornerstone Tyrese Haliburton would like to play with," Afseth wrote.
The Pacers have been unintentionally going through a gap year between Haliburton's Achilles tear and Turner departing for Milwaukee. Kessler would fill much of the void Turner left, and while Turner has talent, the void he left wouldn't be too big to fill, especially for someone like Kessler.
Indiana is coming off a run to the NBA Finals where Haliburton's Achilles tear was all that stood in the way of the franchise winning its first title. Bringing in Kessler, who provides rim protection and offensive rebounding among other things, puts them right back where they were once Haliburton returns.
That is, if the Pacers manage to pry Kessler away from the Jazz, which is hard to see happening with Utah holding all the cards in contract talks.
But the Pacers could definitely force the Jazz's hand
Again, even if Kessler being a restricted free agent would turn off some teams, he's not like Jonathan Kuminga and all that drama that's still going on in the Bay Area. Kessler has proven enough that a team will be more than happy to make the Jazz sweat this offseason. The Pacers want a Turner replacement because they want to return to the NBA Finals, and there might not be a better one out there this summer than Kessler.
So if there's fire to this smoke, they will pay through the nose to get Kessler, which the young Jazz center has every right to use as leverage in extension talks. Utah will have the cap space to match any offer and not worry too much about the long-term ramifications to their payroll, but during a time in which teams don't want to waste their restricted free agents, Kessler might just be the exception to the norm.
Combining this intel along with previous reports indicating the Jazz might play hardball with Kessler this offseason, it will be really eye-grabbing to see how this situation plays out if the Pacers get involved.