The Utah Jazz have helped the Los Angeles Lakers out multiple times over the past few years - sometimes while not knowing what exactly they were doing in the process - so maybe they could do it again. However, the Lakers have made it clear they want Walker Kessler, who the Jazz don't want to trade, and don't want John Collins, who the Jazz are more than willing to trade.
In his latest batch of intel, NBA Insider Marc Stein revealed the latest on where the Lakers stand on the Jazz's two bigs.
"Finding a front-line center remains a clear offseason priority for the Lakers, who have maintained a longstanding interest Utah's Walker Kessler," Stein wrote. "The Jazz, though, have made Kessler unavailable for some time, which might have contributed to reports last week that suggested L.A. has interest in trading for Kessler's teammate John Collins.
"Collins had a strong 2024-25 campaign, but I'm told any suggestion that the Lakers are a trade suitor for the 27-year-old is a mischaracterization."
Let's not insult anyone's intelligence here: the Lakers' interest in Kessler is nothing new. It's been on the rumor mill for practically a year now, and that interest has been amplified ever since they traded Anthony Davis away. Kessler solves so many of their problems by himself.
For that reason, let's not beat around the bush: Utah won't compromise in trade negotiations involving Kessler and the Lakers unless a Luka trade-like twist from this saga unfolds. The Jazz have no reason to give up Kessler unless it's to trade for someone better, and the Lakers aren't giving that to them.
Clearly, Collins' flaws stick out enough that the Lakers aren't interested, but beggars can't be choosers, so they may not have a choice but to lower their standards.
The Lakers may not do better than Collins
While it's not like LA is completely deprived of assets, there won't be a pool og big men they can simply choose from. Collins definitely does not give them the rim protection they desperately need, but the talent gap between him and the likes of Jaxson Hayes and Alex Len is embarrassingly wide.
Other decent centers could be on the market, but it's hard to see any of them being better than Collins. The ones that are could likely fetch a better contract than the Lakers, and it's hard to see any of the others raising their ceiling better than Collins can.
Because of his flaws, particularly on defense, combined with his being a flight risk, no one will give up much for Collins, but he is still good enough that teams like the Lakers shouldn't act like they're completely uninterested.
The Jazz won't be able to take a ton of advantage of a situation like this, but because Collins is the best the Lakers couldd hope for, Utah might be able to extrapolate the most value they can from Hollywood.