It's hard to say if Walker Kessler is a future star. He's not a go-to scorer by any means, but his specialties put him among the best in the league. It's why his season-ending shoulder surgery was so tragic, given the timing. Making it worse, being sidelined for the majority of the season made it easy to forget how good he was.
Kessler's third-year breakout was among the very few positives from the 2024-25 season, but he re-asserted how good he is as a rim protector and as a rebounder. Because he's among the best in the league at what he does, the Jazz know they can't lose him. But because he took the season off, his rep took a hit.
Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus ranked the Top 50 free agents entering the NBA Offseason. Make no mistake, Kessler's on the list. In fact, he made the Top 10, but he was ranked at 10. Okay, so he's not the best free agent available this summer, but he's not too far off.
It's fair to suggest that LeBron James, James, Harden, and we'll even throw Austin Reaves rank above Kessler. However, Isaiah Hartenstein? Bennedict Mathurin? Peyton Watson?
All quality players, no doubt, but they're not better than Kessler. The Pacers traded Mathurin primarily because they wanted Ivica Zubac, but also because they didn't want to pay him. Up until this season, Watson looked like a scrub, and that was only for a stretch. Hartenstein? Well, it's tough to say who is better.
The bottom line is that Kessler is a top-10 free agent this summer (in part because it's a pretty weak class), but he's definitely not 10.
Maybe Kessler's situation hurts his value as a free agent?
Kessler is all set to hit restricted free agency. Unfortunately, restricted free agency has always been a problem because teams have always been reluctant to give lucrative offers to players when those offers can simply be matched.
That might be why he compares infavorably to some of the players who were ranked ahead of him. It's hard to say who really is better between him and Hartenstein (a really awesome player and story), but teams may want someone like Hartenstein over because if he becomes a free agent (he has a team option with OKC),
But that still wouldn't explain why anyone would think Watson or Matthurin would rank ahead of him. In any case, if Kessler's value is really seen at that low, it's obviously bad for him (not to mention unfair), but it's great news for the Jazz!
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