When the 2025-26 season ends, the Utah Jazz will have completed yet another tank, but the feeling around them will be much different compared to last season. That's because the team's future is much more certain than it was. They mustn't mess with that certainty, and one way they could is if they somehow let Walker Kessler walk this summer.
Bryce Simon illustrated this exact point when discussing the Jazz on "The Game Theory Podcast" with Sam Vecenie. Simon pointed out that the Jazz's vision "makes a lot more sense" if Kessler comes back.
The one downside to the JJJ trade was that the Jazz wouldn't get to see what he and Kessler would look like together. However, the team is very clearly hyped for what the two will (hopefully) look like when they take the floor together, and for good reason.
Kessler is not only a rim protector who lets Jaren Jackson Jr. roam the perimeter as a defender, but also an elite rebounder, covering for Jackson's one fatal flaw. Kessler simply covers so much ground as a player and for his teammates that Utah should know by now that they shouldn't mess around with what could be an even better core than most believe.
The only unchecked box is what Kessler's price will be
There's so much to like about what Kessler should be able to give to this team next season, but Utah also knows that his services will come at a price. All indications are that his price will be higher than they would like.
Utah has home-court advantage in his free agency since he's restricted, but there's no telling whether Kessler will be satisfied with their offer and simply take the qualifying offer so he can play out next season and enter unrestricted free agency.
Most players of his caliber don't do that because they don't want to take such a risky bet on themselves with the amount of money on the line. Everyone loves the stories of someone betting on themselves to win in the end, but the dark side of that story is that it doesn't always work out like that, no matter what Hollywood tells you.
Utah has leverage, but if Kessler believes in himself, he might take that bet anyway. The Jazz have messed around and found out in the past (look up Hayward, Gordon). This isn't hyperbole: this could be the best Utah Jazz team ever assembled since the Karl Malone-John Stockton days, and that's why messing around with Kessler's free agency could be a fool's errand for them if they choose that route.