The Los Angeles Lakers have been repeatedly rebuffed by the Utah Jazz in their pursuit of 23-year-old center Walker Kessler, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
“They’ve tried to get Walker Kessler many times, they have not been able to meet that steep price,” Charania said on “NBA Countdown” before the Lakers took down Golden State Warriors 118-108 on Saturday, January 25. “I’m sure they will keep trying.”
Hoops Tonight’s Jason Timpf is pushing for a Kessler trade proposal that includes Collin Sexton, the eighth overall pick in 2018, to satisfy Anthony Davis‘ wish to play next to a center.
Los Angeles Lakers receive: Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton
Utah Jazz receive: Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, removal of top-4 protection on 2027 first-round pick, lightly protected first-round pick (2029 or 2031)
Timpf added that the Lakers could add one of their two available second-round picks “if the negotiations get tougher.”
It’s worth noting that Timpf suggested the Lakers offer removal of the top-4 protection on the 2027 first-round pick they gave the Jazz as an attachment to offload Russell Westbrook‘s contract in 2023 in the deal that also landed them Vanderbilt.
Will this offer move Jazz CEO Danny Ainge to part ways with the rising center? Adding Sexton, a former lottery pick, into the mix could push Ainge to also ask for the Lakers’ other first-round pick.
Jazz Want 2 First-Round Picks
In December, Michael Scotto of Hoopshype reported that the Jazz’s asking price is at least two first-round picks.
“Teams gauging Kessler’s availability in Utah have come away with the sense that it’ll take at least two first-round picks to pry him from the Jazz, a high asking price in their eyes,” Scotto wrote at the time.
Ainge has every right to be greedy as Kessler is averaging 11.3 points on 73.3% field goal shooting, 11.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, and 1.3 assists, all best marks of his young NBA career. He ranks seventh in rebounding and second in blocked shots per game.
The 7-foot Kessler was the 22nd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, whom the Jazz acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Rudy Gobert trade.
Jarred Vanderbilt is Negative Asset
Further complicating this trade idea from Timpf is Vanderbilt is viewed as a negative asset around the league.
“For the Lakers to include Vando, they would probably have to put a first-round pick just as an attachment,” Buha said on his podcast “Buha’s Block” on January 20. “He’s got three more years left [on his deal], he’s a player who’s offensively limited and has dealt with injuries. A lot of people view that as a very negative contract so that’s the complicating factor.”
Any team that would absorb Vanderbilt’s remaining contract would pay him around $37 million in the next three years after this season.
What gives the Lakers hope Vanderbilt could become a valuable trade chip or addition to this current roster is he looked solid in his return from a year-long layoff due to foot injury.
Vanderbilt was impactful in the limited time he saw action during his season debut in the Lakers’ 118-108 win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, January 25, at the start of their six-game road trip.
Vanderbilt finished with two points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals across 12 minutes as he was active on the floor and provided the energy the Lakers lacked at times. More importantly, he was plus-6 during his brief stint under the minutes’ restriction as the Lakers eases him back into the rotation.
They have only two weeks left to evaluate their current roster before the February 6 trade deadline.
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