We don't really have to rehash that the Utah Jazz hold pretty all the card with Walker Kessler's upcoming free agency because it's beating a dead horse. However, some teams will have cap space the summer, and one of those teams has absolutely no plan and hence might actually be a threat for Kessler just because they can be: the Chicago Bulls.
This has been brought up before, but only hypothetically. While it still hasn't been technically confirmed if they're interested, NBA Insider Jake Fischer mentioned that Kessler may be among the centers who try to use the Bulls to drive up his price tag.
"There is an anticipation that (Mark) Williams, like Detroit's Jalen Duren and Utah's Walker Kessler, will attempt to generate interest from Chicago in restricted free agency since the Bulls are projected to wield some $65 million in salary cap space. Projecting the Bulls' offseason intentions with certitude will naturally be easier once they've installed a new head of basketball operations, but Chicago's lack of a proven center on the current roster is undeniable," Fischer wrote.
It makes sense for Kessler to do this, just like it makes sense for the Bulls to chase after a center, but why go after an above-average center when you've been the NBA's quintissentially average team for pretty much a decade now?
Kessler would make the Bulls good enough to compete for the playoffs, but it wouldn't vault them into contender status (or even come close). That's not a criticism levied at Kessler, but more at the fact that the Bulls' roster is impressively mediocre, that even someone like Kessler, who really could be a difference maker on the Jazz's roster, wouldn't make that big of a difference.
Because it hasn't been clear for sometime now what Chicago wants to do, it shouldn't be ruled out that they may be the ones who force Utah to pay up.
If Bulls give him what he wants, the Jazz should match
As much as Utah would love to pay Kessler on a team-friendly deal, and even if they now have more leverage since last summer, if a team like Chicago gives him a pretty rich offer, they know that they can't lose Kessler, so they must match it immediately.
At the end of the day, even if he may not necessarily be a franchise player, he has shown he has the makings of irreplaceable player in their rotation. The Jazz acquired Jaren Jackson Jr. in part because they clearly believe he and Kessler will basically be a wall for opponents to score on.
Utah will gladly let Kessler try to push up his price tag because they will still match, but even if they think his next deal could be ridiculous, they'vw known for ages that keeping him is in their best interest.
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