Walker Kessler to New York?

A deep dive on the Jazz big man... Why might he be available and what's he worth?

Only a few decent centers were left on the open market 24 hours ago, and most of them were scooped up yesterday. 

Mo Wagner, the best of the bunch, reached a two-year, $22 million deal (more than twice as much as the Knicks could offer) with the Magic to return to Orlando. Xavier Tillman agreed to a two-year deal with the Celtics. James Wiseman, the former No. 2 overall pick by the Golden State Warriors, is headed to Indiana on a two-year deal. Mo Bamba has agreed to a one-year pact with the Clippers.

Precious Achiuwa, Daniel Theis and Dario Saric (who posted an impressive triple-double in Croatia's blowout victory over Luka Doncic and Slovenia yesterday, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and ten assists in 32 minutes) are essentially the last three decent free-agent bigs still available. 

So, why have the Knicks remained static as the rest of the league snapped up centers?

As I detailed yesterday, the Knicks may not feel pressured to add a starting quality center because they trust Mitchell Robinson can get the job done. 

However, it's also possible that New York plans to address the center situation through some wheeling and dealing.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported Tuesday that the Knicks have "made inquiries on the trade market, showing interest in Jazz center Walker Kessler, league sources told HoopsHype, along with Hornets center Nick Richards." 

Scotto added, "There's a belief from rival executives that Utah would listen to trade calls for Kessler, whereas last year, the sense was he was not for sale."

At this time last year, Kessler was viewed as one of the NBA's rising stars. 

After being selected with the 22nd pick in the 2022 NBA Draft (following an impressive sophomore season at Auburn in which he was named the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year), Kessler was traded from Minnesota to Utah in the Rudy Gobert blockbuster. Kessler began the season coming off the bench for the Jazz but immediately established himself as one of the league's elite rim-protectors. 

He was promoted to the starting lineup in January and, over the second half of the 2022-23 campaign, averaged 12.1 points (while shooting over 70% from the floor), 10.6 boards and 3.0 blocks in 28 minutes a night. 

Kessler blocked at least seven shots in four games, the first rookie since Tim Duncan to accomplish this feat.

Following the season, he was named to the NBA's All-Rookie First Team and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting, behind Paolo Banchero and Jalen Williams. Kessler's defense had garnered such respect that he was asked to play for the 2023 USA Men's National Team that competed at the FIBA Men's World Cup. ​​​​He ended up leading the team in blocks despite logging just eight minutes a game.

With this type of resume, why would the Jazz even consider parting ways with this 22-year-old, you might ask? 

Well, Kessler surprisingly took a step back this past season. After beginning the 2023-24 campaign as Utah's starting center, the big man was demoted to the bench by late November. Although he made spot starts here and there the rest of the way, Kessler was unable to establish himself as the defensive anchor of the first five.

After starting 40 games as a rookie, he started just 22 last year. In his defense, Kessler dealt with some injuries early on and had to adjust to the arrival of John Collins, who came over from Atlanta and ended up playing some pivot. Late in the season, Jazz coach Will Hardy frequently opted to go with rookie Taylor Hendricks at center. 

Despite averaging slightly more minutes overall as a sophomore, Kessler's scoring and rebounding averages dipped this past season. 

Pundits in Utah point to a lack of offensive growth as the reason for Kessler's demotion. He attempted very few shots outside the restricted area, yet his FG% dropped. He converted just 60% of his free throws. 

Kessler also wasn't nearly as effective a screener as the Jazz had hoped. "You can not be a non-shooting 7-footer in today's NBA and a poor screener and be a factor on a good team," NBA insider Tim MacMahon told ESPN's Spence Checketts in March. "He has to master the art and science of screening. That should be the primary focus this offseason. I don't need to preach the value of the screen in Salt Lake City. The screen was the most popular thing in Utah for the last six or seven years of [Rudy] Gobert's career."

This past season, Kessler averaged 2.3 screen assists per game, which generated only 5.2 points per game. For some context, Nick Richards (the other player HoopsHype mentioned as a potential Knicks trade target) averaged 4.3 screen assists per game, leading to 9.8 points off those screens - fifth most in the NBA, slightly behind Nikola Jokic. 

There may also have been some friction off the floor between Kessler and the head coach. According to Checketts, there were "some rumors about Walker not being thrilled with the direction of the franchise, and something happened between him and Will this year…"

Surprisingly, Jazz CEO Danny Ainge said Tuesday that the team plans on having Kessler play for Utah's Summer League squad later this month. That's uncommon for a player with Kessler's experience and resume.

During the press conference, Coach Hardy was asked about Kessler's sophomore slump and his participation in Summer League action. "He probably overachieved in his first year," Hardy said. "Then this year he felt like he didn't play his best for a variety of reasons, so that makes it feel different. It's like being .500. If you win the first two and lose the second two, you feel bad. If you lose the first two and you win the second two, you feel good. You're still .500, so I like where Walker is at in terms of his progress over the first two years of his career."

"Walker needs to play as much as possible," Hardy added. "There's nothing that will substitute getting live game reps ... If you had told me when we traded for Walker two years ago that this is the point on the map that he would be two years in, I would have been happy."