Until it's proven otherwise, the Utah Jazz are likely to retain Walker Kessler, which is good news given all the uncertainty at this time a year ago. While Kessler re-established how good he was this past season, there were still rumors tying him to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, with Deandre Ayton signing there, that has died down, and hopefully for good.
It's been brought up before that Ayton signing with the Lakers means the Kessler rumors will die down, which has proven to be true and for good reason. However, Ayton will likely only be a one-year rental, which would pave the way for those Kessler rumors to pop back up again if he doesn't stay with the team.
However, by 2025, Kessler is well in position to get a nice big extension from the Jazz, which he definitely deserves, and they know darn well that playing hardball with him is a bad idea. Pending any crazy circumstances - and to be fair, we've seen the Lakers go through some crazy circumstances happen to them in the past year - Kessler's not going anywhere no matter what LA wants.
That's why it's nice that these rumors are basically dead and shouldn't resurface for some time. It's not like the Kessler-to-LA rumors ever really went anywhere to begin with, but more than anything, they were just really annoying to see pop up time and time again.
Plus the Jazz have no incentive to help the Lakers
The reason why Kessler's name kept getting floated to the Lakers is because they had draft assets that could appease Utah. However, the Jazz already have plenty and have signaled through other trades, like the one they did with Phoenix in February, that their focus is quality of assets, not quantity.
When looking at the Lakers, trying to get more of their assets made no sense when the Jazz already have one from LA thanks to the Mike Conley trade from two years ago. Acquiring more makes no sense when considering two factors.
1. The Lakers getting Kessler only makes that 2027 pick they owe the Jazz potentially much less valuable, plus any other assets they would trade to Utah for him.
2. There's no guarantee any player the Lakers potentially send the Jazz from those draft assets turn out as good as Kessler, let alone better.
This scenario never made sense at all from the very moment it was first mentioned, and luckily, it will never be brought up again.