If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to be aggressive and mortgage their remaining draft capital, why not do it to acquire a player who can be a difference maker for the organization for the foreseeable future? That would be the mindset, presumably, with the Lakers pursuing a trade for Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler.
There have been rumors linking the two sides dating back to this past offseason. If ESPN insider Shams Charania is to be believed, which feels like a safe bet, the Lakers' interest has not gone away.
Lakers continue to call, but Jazz continue to be a difficult trade partner
Charania appeared on an episode of First Take, joining Stephen A. Smith, to drop the latest scoops from around the league. After the obligatory Jimmy Butler segment, the pair moved on to the Lakers. Charania offered a strong look into what is happening behind closed doors.
"How do you figure out a way to consolidate talent? ... That team that they had that won the championship 2019-2020, how do you get back to that model? ... The Lakers have been active in the trade market to go find a center.Shams Charania
Every time they call on Walker Kessler in Utah, that asking price is really high. So that front office is trying to make calls, doing due diligence, but at the end of the day, it takes two teams to tango, and they have not been able to find deals."
There were some rumors this past offseason suggesting that the Jazz could move on from Kessler. However, if there is a willingness to do so, it does not appear to change the price around acquiring their prized, young center.
In 34 games this season, Kessler has been productive in his role. The third-year pro is averaging 11.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game. Kessler is second in the league when it comes to blocks per game and first when it comes to field goal percentage (72.7 percent).
It has been suggested by some that a trade for the Jazz big man would not only require draft picks, but Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht as well. To circle back to Charania's assessment, that is indeed a very high asking price.
Knecht has been solid for the Lakers in his rookie season, averaging 9.1 points with shooting splits of 45.0 percent from the field, 34.1 percent from 3-point, and 80.8 percent from the free throw line. Perhaps the Jazz have some remorse over passing him up in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Kessler would fix a lot of defensive issues for the Lakers and can serve as an excellent pairing with Anthony Davis in the frontcourt. It may come down to a matter of how close Rob Pelinka and company believe they are to a championship and whether they trust that Davis and LeBron James can lead them to the NBA mountaintop once more.