After the Utah Jazz gave up on him, Walker Kessler will have a chip on his shoulder next season. He'll be motivated to prove that they made a game-changing mistake letting him go to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, Utah's decision to let Kessler go wasn't about how they felt about him, but how much he was getting paid.
The Lakers not only gave up pretty much their future for the ex-Jazz center, but gave him a pretty expensive extension at four years, $130 million. No one's saying Kessler didn't deserve a raise for what he can do on the floor, but it's fair to question as to whether that was appropriate value for someone like him.
BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers are acquiring Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz for unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030, sources tell ESPN. Kessler will sign a massive four-year, $130 million deal with the Lakers. pic.twitter.com/rt8b17fEQZ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2026
The Sporting News' Steph Noh gave out a salary model where he weighed every free agent signing by whether their impact on the court is worth the amount they're getting paid. Green means their impact outweighs what they're being paid. Red means the opposite.
Kessler was not the worst of the worst, but was still pretty darn red, with the value lost at minus-9.3, with only Kristaps Porzingis, Austin Reaves, and Trae Young projected to be worse.
Here's how some of the most prominent signings of the summer grade out in my salary model that translates expected impact --> dollar value. Green is a good contract, red is bad.
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) July 6, 2026
Most contracts have been either good or neutral-ish, with one notable exception: pic.twitter.com/UcGrRFHcJW
This is just a projection, but it gives Jazz solid reasoning to feel good about this swap. Besides the fact that they now own the majority of the Lakers' draft capital, Kessler doesn't solve the Lakers' defensive woes by himself, so while he drastically improves their most hapless position, they need more than just him.
This is Kessler's chance to prove Utah handled him wrong
It was well-documented that even before the final outcome, Kessler was not happy with how Utah handed his extension eligibility last summer. He clearly believed he was worth more than what the Jazz were willing to offer, and that carried on into this summer before the Lakers scooped him up.
But between Utah believing he wasn't worth it for over a year and these projections signaling that they're correct to think that way, Kessler now has the proper motivation to prove the doubters wrong. He's already proven that he's a quality center who gave flashes of another gear before his season prematurely ended.
The funny thing is, he could prove he's worth every penny, but because the Lakers' roster construction still has quite a few questions, it may not even matter. Kessler could very well prove to be more than worth his contract and yet trading him could still wind up being the smart decision Utah made from this situation.
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