Trading Walker Kessler makes the Utah Jazz worse than they would have been with him, no questions asked. For the time being, the Jazz believe their center-by-committee approach will replace him in the aggregate. There's only one way to find out if it will, but if it doesn't, Daniel Gafford would be an intriguing option.
He's not as good as Kessler, but Gafford is a starting center in this league who was among the final puzzle pieces to Dallas' NBA Finals run two years ago.
Rumor has it, Gafford is very much available. NBA Insider Marc Stein reported on the DLLS Mavs Podcast that the Mavericks are "still fielding offers on him."
Now no one knows if they are urgently trying to find Gafford a new home, but it's possible that their MO with a Gafford trade would be to get the most value possible out of him as opposed to getting rid of him ASAP. Hence, it may not be too surprising if they take their time trading him, as offers may get better in the regular season.
You know who has some draft capital that would certainly appeal to the Mavericks? The Jazz, and that's thanks to the Kessler trade. Gafford makes a lot of sense as Kessler's potential replacement, even if he's not nearly as good, but for Utah to really consider this, one of two scenarios has to happen.
1. The center-by-committee approach isn't working
Trading Kessler was a sign of confidence that Jusuf Nurkic and Jaxson Hayes can take up the center minutes. It's also likely Kyle Filipowski will take some minutes there as well if he can continue to build off these last two seasons.
However, Nurkic and Hayes are solid centers, but neither screams "starting center on a title team." The real question will be whether the two of them together can fill the void left by Kessler. Nurkic had a resilient season in Utah, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still aging. Hayes has evolved into a rotation big, but he is incredibly limited.
The question is not whether Gafford is better than them (he is), but rather if those two can man the fort this season. If they can't, and worse, if they prove to be a painfully obvious Achilles' heel, Utah has every reason to give Dallas a call about Gafford.
2. Utah is a center upgrade away from title contention
Now this exact scenario is welcome to the possibility that Nurkic and Hayes, in fact, are good enough to hold their own for the Jazz. The only problem is that while they could be good in their roles, they may not be good enough.
There's no telling how high the Jazz's ceiling is. It was easier (and more exciting) when everyone thought Kessler was coming back, but while trading him makes them worse, they have enough talent to withstand losing him and, at the same time, could be a center upgrade from making some real noise.
There's a strong possibility the combo of Nurk and Hayes will not be a weakness for Utah, per se, but it may not prove to be that much of a strength. If that doesn't make sense, perhaps this will: the Jazz could still be a really good team with opponents not being able to exploit their current Kessler-less center rotation, but it also may be clear to them that if they're serious about competing at an elite level now, they'll have to do better than those two.
Dallas rolled that dice with Gafford two and a half years ago, and they went on one of their most successful playoff runs ever. This is all hypothetical, but who's to say Utah wouldn't be a Gafford trade away from their most successful playoff run in almost 20 years (or potentially more so)?
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