Unless something completely unexpected happens, Walker Kessler will return to the Utah Jazz this coming season. It would also seem like a foregone conclusion that he would be their starting center, but due to circumstances, it actually might not be that simple.
The Deseret News' Sarah Todd sent a good reminder to everyone that while Kessler should be fully healthy, him spending most of the 2025-26 season recovering from his injury could play a role in how Utah utilizes him at the start of the season.
"One thing that could also play a role is going to be where Kessler is post-surgery recovery-wise. By all accounts, he is well-recovered, looking at a healthy offseason and will be 100% ready to go, but he hasn’t played NBA ball for an entire season, so there might be some ramp-up time for the center, depending on how he’s feeling and how cautious the Jazz want to be with him," Todd wrote.
This is a good point about the situation likely to come for the Jazz. On paper, it would make all the sense in the world for Kessler to be thrown to the wolves, but more often than not, it's not that simple for players who are coming off missing almost the entire season.
Going from no NBA minutes for almost an entire year, not to mention playing on a team with low expectations, to being back on a full-minute load on a team that suddenly has demonstrably higher expectations is a transition much eaiser said then done.
If Kessler isn't ready, what does the starting lineup look like?
Who would fill out the Jazz's starting lineup is already going to be quite the discussion, depending on who they pick at No. 2. Kessler might need some time before he's truly ready for the minute load he had before he went down for the season.
If that's the case, what would the lineup look like? We already know that three of the starters would be Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Keyonte George. Bringing Kessler off the bench would likely put JJJ on the five and Markkanen at the four. From there, it would seem pretty clear Ace Bailey would get the nod at the three.
But at the two? It's an interesting discussion. It could very well whoever is available between AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, or the Jazz could trot out Brice Sensabaugh (more scoring/shooting), Cody Williams (further developing him as a two-way player), or Svi Mykahiliuk (started when the team was fully healthy).
The other question would be how long they would trot out a starting lineup like this until Kessler is ready to start again. If he needs some time, Utah should give it to him, but if he reaches a point where it's dumb to keep him on the bench, they will have to re-insert him at some point.
If and when that happens, someone will have to go to the bench. Needless to say, Will Hardy may have a lot of mixing and matching on his plate this coming season.
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