Jazz's Walker Kessler among big man targets for East contender
By Matt John
Trade rumors involving Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler have been a recurring theme throughout the 2024 NBA Offseason. They haven't progressed much into anything, but he keeps popping up.
SNY's Ian Begley named Kessler among big man targets the New York Knicks could target
"I’d keep an eye on Nik Richards in Charlotte as a possible trade candidate. Same goes for Walker Kessler in Utah. As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst noted, Robert Williams is a name to monitor. Maybe Jonas Valunciunas?"
The Knicks lost Isaiah Hartenstein during the offseason, and are left with Mitchell Robinson (injury-prone) and Precious Achiuwa (undersized) as their primary centers heading into the 2024-25 season. Kessler would make sense for them, but the Jazz would want some good assets, which is something the Knicks are fresh out of after the Mikal Bridges trade.
However, from Begley's report, it sounds like Kessler is one of their options but not necessarily the exact target they are looking into. The other three players that Begley mentions are around Kessler's caliber of player currently, although there's a solid chance that not too long from now, he will have more value than anyone else that Begley mentioned.
So, yeah, another rumor involving Kessler, but not much else regarding how likely it is that the Jazz would make a trade. That's why there's something else worth mentioning here.
This is more of the same and nothing has changed
Kessler's name has been mentioned time and time again in trade rumors all offseason long. In fact, this isn't even the first time he has been linked to the Knicks. The funny thing is, they say, "Where there's smoke, there's fire," but there's been so much smoke in this case, but the rumors haven't progressed past "The Jazz might think about it."
The conclusion to draw from this is that all the rumors involving Kessler aren't serious and likely never were. Plenty has been made about Kessler's sophomore slump, but even with that in mind, it seems ridiculous that the Jazz would already give up on him after two seasons.
His contract still has an insane level of value since it's a rookie contract. Even if he doesn't improve past the excellent rookie season he had, if Kessler rounds back to form, there's no way a team like the Jazz would give up on him unless they get someone who is either better overall as player or better for them as a team.