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NBA Insider's latest Jazz intel reveals exciting new detail about Walker Kessler

There's no doubt his play has factored into the latest trade buzz!
Matt John
Matt John

The J-Notes

San Antonio Spurs v Utah Jazz - Emirates NBA Cup / Chris Gardner/GettyImages

It's no surprise that the Utah Jazz are seen as sellers this trading season. Currently, they experience hard-fought after hard-fought loss so that even if they're losing a lot, they're going down swinging, but they're also raising the value of their tradeable veterans.

There haven't been rumors linking any Jazz players to another team lately. NBA Insider Marc Stein revealed in a December 1 story which players people around the NBA believe the Jazz will trade away.

"The leaguewide presumption about the Jazz nonetheless persists that Collins — like fellow veterans Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton — is a prime candidate to be dealt between now and the Feb. 6 trade deadline by Jazz CEO Danny Ainge."

Now, this intel is not new. The Jazz don't have much long-term use for any of those three players, though Stein also noted how pleased the Jazz are with Collins' resurgence in his second season in Utah.

"The Jazz are said to be pleased with Collins' play and glad that they took his contract on from Atlanta for the very nominal cost of one future second-round pick."

That could very well lead to a trade not too long from now, which is impressive since Collins came into the season with no trade value. However, there's something more important to takeaway from Stein's report, even if he doesn't bring it up directly.

Walker Kessler was not mentioned

Stein mentioned nothing about Kessler in his report, which is notable after everything that transpired over the summer. Kessler was involved in offseason trade rumors, but they never amounted to anything. The fact that he was not brought up shows that Kessler has played well enough to be considered part of the Jazz's future.

And why wouldn't he? Kessler has been nothing short of amazing this season. His optimists pointed to that plenty of players who burst onto the scene their rookie year naturally fall down to earth a bit in their second season, which is why no one should give up on him heading into his third season.

His traditional numbers are excellent. He's averaging a double-double while shooting over 70% from the field and nearly three blocks, per NBA.com. His impact shows up on the floor too.

He's been excellent and very young, so why would the Jazz even bother trading him? Stein's report indicates that they're not. With any luck, and as long as he continues to build on this, there won't be any more reports of Kessler being available in a trade in the 2020s.

Matt John

Matt John

Matt John is the site expert for The J-Notes and has been overseeing the website since June 2024, providing the best coverage possible for Jazz fans. He has been writing about the NBA since 2016, with bylines at Basketball Insiders, Basketball News, Heavy, and The Sporting News. He has been closely following the Celtics since 2001, but has also paid more attention to the Jazz since moving to Utah in 2015. He also enjoys watching TV shows and movies, and occasionally watches some True Crime.