The Utah Jazz have the inside track on Walker Kessler’s free agency, whether he likes it or not. The prevailing theory is that the Jazz plan to re-sign him and also add a big free agent this offseason. But even if it makes a lot of sense on paper, it may not be set in stone.
Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints confirmed the Jazz won’t trade Kessler before the offseason, but it’s not set in stone yet
“While the Jazz have received significant interest in Walker Kessler, he is expected to remain on the roster beyond the February 5 trade deadline. Whether or not the Jazz will extend Kessler or work out a sign-and-trade in free agency remains to be determined,” Siegel wrote.
There are reports suggesting that Utah wants to keep Kessler, and they probably can, but the question will be for how long, for how much, and whether Kessler will be happy with it when it’s all said and done.
That last point is certainly worth considering, because while Kessler didn’t delve much into what happened, he did make it clear that he was frustrated with the way the extension talks between him and Utah were going at Jazz Media Day. The Jazz have a chance to make up some ground with him this summer, but they clearly don’t want to overpay or upset him further.
Utah has all the leverage over Kessler, but that doesn’t mean this offseason will go smoothly for them. If they want to trade him, it could be difficult to figure out what value they would get in return if they were considered equal.
Kessler would be difficult to replace
Utah was already lucky enough to get Kessler in the Rudy Gobert trade. He’s not as good as Gobert (not many players with the same archetype have that ever played at the level that Gobert still plays), but that does not alter the fact that he has been a quite suitable replacement for the Jazz all-timer.
Kessler is already one of the NBA’s best rim protectors and rebounders, and that’s not something Utah can easily replace. He’s not young, but he’s young enough, and because the Jazz plan to win next season, he fits into their timeline now.
It makes sense that Utah wanted to wait until next season to decide what to do with Kessler. It’s very likely he’ll stay, but he made it clear he wasn’t happy with the way the extension talks went, so Utah’s goal should be not only to keep him, but also to make sure there are no hard feelings if he signs on the dotted line.
Kessler isn’t necessarily a perennial All-Star in the making (note: he looked like he was making another leap before his season ended), but the little things he does are valuable enough that the Jazz can’t afford to let this turn into another Gordon Hayward situation.
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