The Los Angeles Lakers finally have their center.
The Lakers agreed Monday to trade for Utah Jazz big man Walker Kessler in a deal that will include a four-year, $130 million contract for the 24-year-old, according to multiple reports. Utah will receive unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, plus first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030.
This is the trade Lakers fans have been begging for since Luka Doncic arrived. Kessler is a legitimate rim protector, a rebounder who does not need shots to affect the game, and a lob threat who fits the Doncic pick-and-roll style perfectly.
He also fills the biggest hole on the roster. The Lakers finished last season near the bottom of the league in interior defense, and the departures of a couple of veterans left them thin at the center spot. Kessler solves that problem in one move.
His numbers last year tell the full story. Kessler averaged 11.1 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 66 percent from the field. He was one of the best defensive centers in the sport, and the analytics community has quietly loved him since his rookie year.
The cost to Utah is significant. Four unprotected firsts and two swaps is a haul, especially in a period where every team knows the Lakers are running out of draft capital. That said, three of the picks land in years when the Doncic era should be at its peak, so Utah is betting they will be lottery picks or close to it. Given the way Los Angeles has managed its roster construction, that is a reasonable bet.
For the Lakers, this is the follow-up move to LeBron James informing the team he intends to sign elsewhere. Without LeBron, the roster now sits around Luka, Austin Reaves and Kessler, plus a supporting cast that will be shaped over the next month. That is a young core with two All-Star ceilings and a legitimate defensive anchor.
The bigger question is whether that core is enough to win a title. Doncic is 27 and coming off an MVP-caliber season. Reaves is 27 and has grown into a legitimate second banana. Kessler is 24 and just entering his prime. The math on age and salary starts to line up in a way the Lakers have not enjoyed in years.
Doncic loves playing with a rolling big. His pick-and-roll numbers with lob threats have been elite going all the way back to Dallas. Kessler in the roll man position is going to draw double teams away from Luka and give Reaves clean looks on the weak side. That combination alone is worth 3 to 4 additional wins in the regular season.
Utah, meanwhile, continues to move veterans and stockpile picks. Head coach Will Hardy and general manager Justin Zanik have made it clear they are running a rebuild the right way, which means moving players at their peak value for future assets. Kessler at 24 with an extension in hand is peak value. The Lakers were the highest bidder.
The trade is subject to standard NBA approval processes and is expected to be finalized in early July when the moratorium lifts. Once it does, the Lakers will have a completely new core to sell to fans who have watched LeBron walk out the door. That is a lot easier when you have a top-15 center under contract for the next four years.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
