Walker Kessler is thriving after two games with the Los Angeles Lakers and will get a chance to show off his form against his former team, the Utah Jazz, on Sunday at Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
A shakeup in the starting lineup got the Jazz in the win column Friday and may prove beneficial going forward as Utah continues to search for a flow following Kessler’s departure.<\/p>\n
The Jazz edged the New Orleans Pelicans 120-119 on Friday after Jaxson Hayes gave the Jazz a spark off the bench. Hayes, who played for the Lakers the past three seasons, started Utah’s season-opening loss at Memphis on Wednesday before moving to the second unit against the Pelicans. <\/p>\n
Hayes scored 17 points with five rebounds in 26 minutes and defended the rim well while hitting big baskets to key a fourth-quarter rally. <\/p>\n
“I think Jaxson at the five creates a different set of matchups for us offensively, which will maybe have us see a few different coverages, potentially give us some more space with that first group,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. <\/p>\n
Utah did struggle to play a consistent 48 minutes. A poor third quarter nearly doomed the effort as the Jazz blew a 15-point lead while committing eight turnovers and seven fouls in the period. The Pelicans also shot 60.9% from the floor in the third quarter. <\/p>\n
Jaren Jackson Jr., who finished with a team-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, stepped up in the fourth quarter along with Hayes to prevent an 0-2 start. <\/p>\n
Now comes the reunion with Kessler after the Jazz dealt the big man to Los Angeles over the summer in exchange for a pair of unprotected first-round draft picks and two first-round pick swaps. <\/p>\n
It was a steep price tag for Kessler, who played only five games last season because of a shoulder injury. The Lakers saw him as an essential component of their future as they sought to retool their roster around Luka Doncic after LeBron James’ departure. <\/p>\n
So far, Kessler has lived up to expectations. <\/p>\n
Kessler has averaged 24 points on 84.6% shooting, 8.5 rebounds, and four blocks in his first two games with the Lakers. He had 22 points, six blocks, and three steals to help lead the Lakers to a 125-117 victory over the Clippers — their ninth win in 13 meetings with their crosstown rivals. <\/p>\n
Kessler became the eighth Laker player all time to tally six blocks and three steals in a single game. <\/p>\n
“It’s kind of crazy that there have been seven guys who have done it before,” Kessler said. “I know there’s some absolute legends in the Lakers franchise — definitely an honor.” <\/p>\n
The Lakers pulled away from the Clippers in the third quarter after a tight first half due to Kessler’s defensive dominance. <\/p>\n
“(He) really was a huge spark for us getting this win,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. “There were multiple times where it felt like they had a layup and he either came over and blocked the shot or created an altered shot.” <\/p>\n
Los Angeles swept the season series against Utah last season by winning all four games. The Lakers are 7-1 against the Jazz over the past two seasons. <\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Field Level Media. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published October 24, 2026 at 3:08 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walker Kessler is thriving after two games with the Los Angeles Lakers and will get a chance to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-893458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893458","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=893458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}