With Walker Kessler out for the season, don't be surprised if the headlines about him from now until the offseason are about his recovery and what happens with his upcoming restricted free agency. Kessler has played well enough to get himself a good payday, which one would think would come from the Utah Jazz. However, Tim MacMahon says otherwise.
In an interview with Spencer Checketts on ESPN 700, MacMahon revealed that it is far from a given that Kessler will stay a Jazzman.
"I don't sense that there's a lot of alignment between Walker Kessler's camp and the Utah Jazz at this point... If I'm working for another team, I've got my eye on this as a potential situation of a restricted free agent you might actually be available to get," MacMahon said.
He also outlined how the Jazz would approach things if the plan is to not keep Kessler around.
"If I'm in the Utah Jazz's position, if I do feel like, 'Okay, hey, perhaps parting of the ways might be in everybody's best interest,' I would have that with the stipulation of 'we can get value in a sign-and-trade.'"
MacMahon concluded by calling the Kessler ordeal a "murky situation." There's no telling what will happen next, but it gives fans a glimpse of what they should expect this offseason. Above all else, MacMahon made it clear that Kessler sticking around in Utah is far from a given.
This isn't as abnormal as one may think
While Kessler has shown his talent, when teams don't believe in a certain player and believe they are better off without him, they tend to see what kind of value they can get out of him. Even with Kessler proving as much as he did last season, his track record is not spotless.
After a highly impressive rookie season where he established himself as one of the league's best rim protectors, Kessler followed that up with a pretty noticeable sophomore slump. Granted, the next year went so much better that he was probably the best subplot in the worst Jazz season in franchise history.
However, as good as he was, and it looked like he was potentially going to get better from here, the inconsistency season to season can be a problem for a team like Utah, who wants to build a long-term winner. It really is a shame that he got hurt because this was a prove it season for Kessler, and it looked like he was taking another step.
The question is not whether or not he's good, but he clearly is. The question is whether the Jazz will feel comfortable paying him what he wants or if some other team will.