{"id":661374,"date":"2026-05-24T00:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661374\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T00:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:17:08","slug":"lakers-linked-to-jazzs-13-3-million-shot-blocking-stud-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661374\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers linked to Jazz’s $13.3 million shot-blocking stud again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers linked to Jazz’s $13.3 million shot-blocking stud again<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, it won\u2019t be uncommon for the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> to be linked to intriguing free agents on several occasions.<\/p>\n

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Take the Utah Jazz<\/a>\u2019s 7-foot-2 shot-blocking stud, for instance. Bleacher Report\u2019s Zach Buckley<\/a> named the former first-round pick as a top trade target for the Lakers on May. 12. Fast forward to May. 22, and the Auburn product\u2019s name was attached<\/a> to Los Angeles<\/a> once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deal I’d offer (Walker Kessler<\/a>): Four years, $125 million,\u201d Marks wrote Friday. \u201cThe contract starts at $28 million and puts Kessler in the top 10 highest-paid centers next season. The first-year salary would give Utah the flexibility to use all of its $15 million non-tax midlevel exception. Best fits: Utah (Jazz), Atlanta<\/a> (Hawks<\/a>), Lakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kessler, who\u2019s set to become a restricted free agent, could land with the Lakers via a sign-and-trade. The Lakers should be prepared for Utah to put up a fight to retain Kessler, though, considering he\u2019s a monumental part of the Jazz\u2019s core and is on an upward trajectory.<\/p>\n

Kessler\u2019s 2025-26 season unfortunately ended in October due to a shoulder injury. Still, the 24-year-old\u2019s near-automatic finishing around the rim and stout rim protection were apparent in the five games he appeared in.<\/p>\n

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Kessler contributed 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game, shooting 70.3% from the field. Needless to say, the Lakers should keep tabs on the former All-Rookie center throughout the summer and be prepared to take him off the market if the right opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n

More NBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers linked to Jazz’s $13.3 million shot-blocking stud again originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[5786,25178,3031,1055,355,99,4219,21146,76877],"class_list":["post-661374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-atlanta","tag-hawks","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-utah-jazz","tag-walker-kessler","tag-zach-buckley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}