Walker Kessler is no longer associated with the Utah Jazz in a twist that pretty much that no one saw coming this summer. Gotta give the Los Angeles Lakers credit: they meant it when they made it clear they'd do anything to get him. However, in the process, they did the Jazz a favor: they opened the door for them to pay for their other players without long-term financial ramifications.
Currently, the Jazz only have two big deals on their books over the next few years: Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. In fact, JJJ got a nice raise this coming season, going from $35 million last year to $49 million. Before the Lakers gave up the farm for Kessler, it appears as though he too would be on the books long-term, even if it wouldn't be for as much as Markkanen and Jackson.
That could have been a problem because Keyonte George only has one year left on his rookie deal, and the Jazz know they have to take care of him too. Don't look now, but it won't be too long before they have to do the same with Ace Bailey and Darryn Peterson on top of the other youngsters they want to keep.
Re-signing Kessler would have caused a controversy about who the Jazz were going to have to cut ties with not too long from now, but trading him to the Lakers (without taking any salary back) removes this question. Now, this won't have to be a controversy for Utah.
For the time being at least
For what it's worth, Utah will still have a good team without Kessler, and doing this makes it so that there isn't that big of an elephant in the room throughout the next season or two. However, they will have to re-visit this when Bailey's and Peterson's contract extensions come up.
But hey, when Bailey's rookie contract expires, so will Markkanen's, which gives them options for what their next move is. It might be a tough task financially to re-sign both of them with the price both will likely want on their next deal. It's why they may look to trade Markkanen before they resolve this situation.
If Kessler had stayed, they probably would have had to confront it sooner than they do now, even if it will be something they can't put off. The modern NBA is a tricky one to build a title contender. Boston just sold off Jaylen Brown for seemingly pennies because keeping him and Jayson Tatum together isn't as simple as it once was. Utah will eventually have to face a decision like that, but not for a while.
Utah didn't originally intend for this outcome, but doing so at least gets them ahead of obstacles before they're actually in plain view.
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