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Latest team speculated to want Walker Kessler makes no sense

The Lakers may see Kessler as a trade target, but there's little reason for the Jazz to play ball there.

By Matt John

Jan 12, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) reacts to a play against the Toronto Raptors during the fourth quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images
Jan 12, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) reacts to a play against the Toronto Raptors during the fourth quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images
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No, this won't be about whether the Utah Jazz will trade Walker Kessler or not. This will be about whether or not the Jazz would actually entertain this scenario.

ClutchPoints' Anthony Irwin named Kessler among the Lakers trade targets as they enter the 2024-25 season.

"In terms of the names the Lakers might be after whenever Pelinka does finally address the holes in this roster, league sources continue to point to Kyle Kuzma of Washington, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith of Brooklyn, Walker Kessler of Utah, Bruce Brown of Toronto, and others," Irwin wrote.

Despite coming off a gentleman's sweep, the Lakers made few changes during the 2024 NBA Offseason other than replacing Darvin Ham as head coach with JJ Redick and drafting Dalton Knecht.

Knowing what's at stake for them, that hardly seems like the best outcome. LeBron James only has so much time left, and they're a little low on assets.

So, it makes sense that the Lakers would go after Kessler, but it makes no sense why the Jazz would trade him to them. And that goes beyond that the Jazz demanded a lot from him when the Knicks inquired about his services during the offseason.

The Jazz own a highly valued Lakers draft pick

To help the Lakers both get rid of Russell Westbrook while also getting valuable rotation players, they agreed to acquire the former MVP while trading the likes of Mike Conley and Malik Beasley, among others, on the condition that the Lakers send them a Top-4 protected in 2027. That could all be undone if they followed that up by trading Kessler over to Hollywood.

Trading Kessler to them would only endanger the pick of losing its value over time. It doesn't matter if it led to the Jazz getting more picks from the Lakers; giving them Kessler would potentially fortify the Lakers enough that such picks would not be as useful.

And if Kessler returns to form (and possibly more), the Jazz may potentially give away a franchise cornerstone for assets, which really isn't necessary. Sure, Kessler will have to prove it first, but if he does, there'd be no reason to then trade him to a Western Conference rival.

The Jazz helped the Lakers back in 2023 because they saw an opportunity to benefit long-term from it. Trading Kessler to LA is not the same as trading for Westbrook (the first time).

If the Lakers wanted help, the Jazz may be happy to oblige them, but Kessler would likely be off the table in any given scenario.

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