Whether Utah Jazz fans like it or not, this topic will come up a lot in the next six months. Walker Kessler is out for the season, but many will keep their eyes peeled for his restricted free agency. The Jazz did not extend Kessler this past offseason, and while there will likely be some drama involved, Utah won’t leave anything up to interpretation: He’ll be back next season.
There was some buzz earlier that the Jazz and Kessler are far apart in terms of what his next deal should look like. The funny thing is that NBA insider Marc Stein actually confirmed this, but added that the Jazz have let everyone know that they won’t let Kessler go anywhere.
“We should also note that Utah has consistently rejected trade interest in center Walker Kessler, who was lost in November to a season-ending shoulder injury.
“Kessler will be a restricted free agent in the summer and the Jazz continue to indicate that they hope to re-sign him after first taking advantage of their projected salary cap impact in the offseason…despite the fact that the parties’ negotiations for a rookie-scale contract extension before the October 20 deadline for such deals were marked by a significant gap.”
It was confirmed that Jazz plan to retain Kessler after using their pet room this summer. Because of that approach, there will likely be plenty of rumors about teams trying to get him (Stein also confirmed the Pacers’ interest in Kessler), but what Stein says here should make it clear that Utah won’t mess around, even if their actions in this situation imply otherwise.
The only remaining variable is how much the Jazz will pay him
The fact that Utah has made it clear to everyone that they want to keep Kessler doesn’t change the fact that his camp and the Jazz have different views on how much he gets paid. He’s proven his worth, and the Jazz defense is a complete joke without him, but since he may never make an All-Star team, the Jazz can use that against him in negotiations.
Kessler might say that someone like him isn’t easy to replace, and that’s because he isn’t. For the same reason, Utah isn’t taking any chances with his free agency, but they may want to keep his next contract within reason.
Even though we all know how this movie ends by now, we don’t know how we’re going to get from point A to point B. For that reason, the Walker Kessler free agency movie should make for quite a summer blockbuster in 2026.
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