SALT LAKE CITY — Walker Kessler had an eyebrow-raising 25 seconds.

He hit a triple on one end, blocked one on the other, and then leaked out for a two-handed dunk to the roar of the home crowd.

Welcome back, Mr. Kessler.

The fourth-year center returned from a bruised shoulder to help Utah to a 132-129 win over Portland Thursday at the Delta Center to wrap up preseason play.

And that standout sequence might not have been the most impressive thing about his performance.

Kessler finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and … eight assists.

Oh? It seems Kessler learned how to pass during the offseason.

“We are using him as a facilitator in a bunch of moments when we’re playing off the ball,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “I think he made a couple of really good reads with the ball tonight.”

Yes, there were a few assists from dribble handoffs, as Keyonte George and the like used Kessler’s screens to free up quick shots. But he also flashed more advanced passes — he threw a backdoor pass for an easy layup; he hit Lauri Markkanen over the top of the defense on a late cut.

The Jazz offense has flashed early this preseason with Jusuf Nurkic serving as a facilitator, and Kessler took some notes.

“I was told that we’re gonna play a lot more flash game, so continuing to make those plays in my headspace,” Kessler said. “Just don’t be afraid to throw those passes. So tonight, it worked out. It was fun.”

The most assists Kessler has had in an NBA game is six — and he believes the eight he handed out on Thursday is the most he’s ever had at any level of play.

“He just knows the system better and kind of takes his time,” Markkanen said. “A lot of them were somebody curling the screen and then hitting him, so I think the reads are coming clear for him.”

And that should add another layer to Utah’s offense and help unlock some more of Kessler’s game — which will continue to include the occasional 3-point try still.

“Walker cutting and putting pressure on the rim, not only to finish, but to draw the weak side defense to offensive rebound, is something that our team needs,” Hardy said. “But I’m not going to bat an eye at some of those perimeter shots that are taken, as long as it’s within the flow of what we’re doing and the mixture is still or the dosage is still correct.”

There was plenty of mixture in his 26 minutes on Thursday (he didn’t play in the fourth quarter, which is likely the only reason he didn’t finish with a triple-double).

His rim-running and screens opened up the court for Utah’s guard, with George being the main benefactor. The third-year guard had 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, often using a fun two-man game with Kessler to get open on the perimeter and at the rim.

“I think we’re getting to a point now where we’re actually trying to manipulate defenses,” George said. “Walk has trust in me, and I’m trusting Walk, so over time, it’s just getting better and better every day.”

Hardy said the team has tried to have the two play a lot together over the last 18 months — in both games and practices — which has helped the chemistry grow.

“Everybody wants those connections to be built quickly; but at this point, they’ve played a lot of minutes together, and so I think they understand each other a little bit better,” Hardy said. “Walker is doing a good job of helping to create the advantage, and then putting pressure on the rim is going to give everybody else good opportunities.”

And some opportunities for himself, too.

Because no matter how impressive his assist numbers were, there’s one thing that stood out to Markkanen.

“I’m most happy for his 3-pointer,” he said.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.