Before the Walker Kessler situation was resolved, the ongoing belief was that he and the Utah Jazz would be at a standoff this offseason. Not only did that not happen, as the Kessler situation was sorted out shockingly quickly for a valued RFA, but everything that many thought would happen between Utah and Kessler is happening right now between Detroit and Jalen Duren.
We're coming down the homestretch of the offseason, and the Duren saga remains unresolved with no progress to speak of. Why is it that Duren remains stingy on his next contract while Kessler got everything he wanted surprisingly quickly? It all boils down to the fact that the former was integral to a winning team last year, while the latter has never come close.
Why would that matter, one may ask? Well, even if Duren is coming off a pretty crummy playoff performance, he can still point to his All-Star and All-NBA campaign, along with Detroit having its best season in almost two decades, as indisputable proof to the Pistons of how irreplaceable he is as a player.
Kessler will be hard to replace for Utah, but he doesn't have the same accolades, nor does he have anywhere close to the same team success Duren does. That's where the Jazz's tank proved itself to be useful.
If the Jazz had been a winning team, and Kessler had been one of the key reasons why, Utah would very likely be in the same position Detroit is in right now. If Kessler had the same struggles in the playoffs that Duren did, the staring contest would be just as intense.
It's not like Kessler didn't have leverage at all, but if he had proven himself the same way Duren has did last year (and the year before), this could have gotten ugly for the Jazz.
It's more proof tanking was the right choice
So the Jazz's tank hurt Kessler's leverage in extension talks. Granted, he still got paid a hefty sum, but this situation could have been bad for the Jazz if they had put into the same situation Detroit is currently in with Duren.
Tanking basically helped the Jazz avoid an internal conflict with Kessler. Better yet, they made out pretty well from that situation. Add that to the fact that they have drafted two potential franchise cornerstones, Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey, while also snagging Jaren Jackson Jr. for what appears to be less value than originally thought, and it's hard to disagree with the road they've chosen.
That doesn't make the whole process over the last four years any easier to stomach, but times like these confirm that the ends justify the means. It's not like the Jazz's tanking was meant to hurt Kessler's abilities to bargain in extension talks, but as proven by the Duren saga, it did.
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