The Utah Jazz trading Walker Kessler begs quite a few questions, but the biggest one of all is "How do they replace him?" It's definitely going to be a fascinating ordeal to see how Utah will fill the void left by Kessler. There's a strong possibility Jaren Jackson Jr. may do it, or their rotation of centers could do the job.
No matter how exactly they do it, something else needs to be clear: the Jazz have been quite good at finding replacements for valuable players, even if they don't replace them entirely. This trend dates back to the Malone-Stockton days.
In 2003, John Stockton retired from the NBA while Karl Malone went ring-chasing with the Lakers. Surely, it was going to be a long road ahead for Utah to get back on track. Well, in the two-year span that followed, they signed Carlos Boozer in free agency, then drafted Deron Williams. Two years after that, they were back in the Western Conference Finals.
Three years later, Boozer leaves the Jazz in free agency to join the Bulls. To compensate, they trade for Al Jefferson, who may not have guided Utah far, but he was a worthy replacement for Boozer. It was around this time that Williams was about to have his falling out with the team. Little did everyone know that they had their next star on the rise before the Williams trade even happened: Gordon Hayward.
Of course, Hayward didn't stay for long when he reached that level. Many thought his departure in 2017 would set the Jazz back, but they struck gold again when they traded for Donovan Mitchell's rights, making them seamlessly transition away from Hayward in no time at all.
They've even managed to keep this going after the Mitchell-Rudy Gobert days ended, as they basically found their next star in Lauri Markkanen. All of this points to that when the Jazz have been challenged with replacing their stars, they typically have not only been able to do it, but have done so in no time!
They've done it before, so they can do it again!
Kessler is not a star per se, but he is still a valuable player, who, lest we forget, basically cost the Lakers their draft capital for the immediate future. Austin Ainge made it clear that the Jazz thought trading him was the best move for their hopes of winning a title. While the history above doesn't suggest that's what's going to happen, it does suggest Utah can replace Kessler.
The only question is how. This history suggests the Jazz can do this either via trade or via the draft. Maybe they've already made the necessary moves to push forward without Kessler, like JJJ, or maybe they're already positioning themselves to make a big move that will make them harder to stop.
The irony if all of this is that it seemed like Kessler was going to be Gobert's replacement, and the Jazz probably preferred it that way until the Lakers made them an offer they couldn't refuse, combined with the NBA preventing long-term smart team-building.
Utah doesn't need an exact replica of Kessler, but simply a replacement that does a good enough job to vault them into title contention status. Because of their history, everyone should be confident that they can do just that.
Add us as a preferred source on Google