The Los Angeles Lakers made their offseason splash by signing Deandre Ayton. While that's a whole other subject by itself, this does have something to do with the Utah Jazz as it means one thing for them: there will be no more Walker Kessler-to-the-Lakers rumors.
For what seems like an eternity now (it's only been a year give or take), Kessler's name has popped up as a Lakers target. It's come up again in recent weeks, and in fact, Lakers insider Jovan Buha mentioned Kessler's name again in his live stream before the team signed Ayton.
“I’ve just heard nothing, but they want two picks plus a young player for Walker Kessler," Buha said. "So the Lakers cannot do that trade. They can give one pick, and one young player and a swap. You could throw in a couple swaps. I probably would try to hold off on the later swaps, but I would maybe throw in three swaps, like just or and take away the protections on the top-four pick in 2027, but I just don’t know if that’s going to be enough for Utah.”
Well, even though this was never serious, Kessler's name likely won't appear in Lakers trade rumors. At this point, these rumors were more annoying than anything else because people came to the wrong conclusion about it.
The first misunderstanding is that it meant the Jazz would simply dump Kessler when that wasn't really an option. If the Lakers or anyone else for that matter wanted him, they were going to have pay a premium price.
The second misunderstanding is because the Lakers wanted him, that meant Utah doesn't see him as part of their future. The truth is, they do, but that doesn't mean they won't trade him if they receive an offer that would lead to their future being better without him than with him.
Because the Lakers have among the biggest fanbases in the country, of course Kessler's name being dropped in their rumors was going to pop up ad naseum. Luckily now that Ayton is on the team, don't expect anymore intel tying Kessler to Los Angeles.
But only for now...
From the details of Ayton's new deal with Los Angeles, it sounds like this is simply a "bet on yourself" type of contract, as he has a player option for the 2026-27 season. The former No. 1 pick has a lot of baggage and his trade value was so low that Portland decided to simply pay him to leave, but there's a solid chance he'll look fantastic playing next to Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
Don't rule out the possibility that he may play himself into another big contract, and when he does, by this time next year, expect Kessler's name to be in trade rumors again when Ayton gets his new contract.
Even though the Kessler to LA rumors have been nauseating, the upside is Utah is standing firm on the price for him, which means that the front office isn't dumb enough to get rid of him. Even if the rumors show up again next year, there shouldn't be anything that will convince the Jazz to pull the trigger on trading Kessler to Hollywood.