Walker Kessler, Jazz end extension talks, making him a restricted free agent in 2026

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With Kessler, there may be some debate about what a rim-protecting, rim-running center is worth. The Jazz moved on from Gobert in large part because Ainge didn't think that type of player should be maxed or near-maxed. Jarrett Allen might be one comparable, and his second contract has been at $20M/year for 5 years. He now has an extension at an average of $30M/year that will kick in a year from now. Myles Turner is at $25M/year as a big that can space the floor as well as defend the rim.

The Jazz front office is also largely from Boston. They like 5s who can play out on the perimeter to space the floor on offense, guys like Horford and Porzingis.

I think the Jazz would readily give Walker $20M/year, and I think Walker's camp wants closer to $30M. The Jazz will see if the market gives Walker that kind of deal. If he gets it, the Jazz will likely match, unless they end up drafting someone like Chris Cenac. In the meantime, the Jazz maintain some more cap flexibility, currently around $14M in extra space. The new apron rules really punish teams for overpaying their 4th and 5th best players.

As a restricted free agent, Walker doesn't have much leverage to force a deal. That said, restricted free agency will allow another team to dictate years and a player option, which the Jazz must be willing to concede. It can also dampen the relationship with Walker as a player though, something the Jazz experienced when they did the same with Gordon Hayward.

Except, as we've seen with RFA this year, those aren't the only possible outcomes. Besides for alienating the player, you can also end up in a standoff where everyone loses. There is no guarantee that another team is going to bail the jazz out by making a reasonable offer to him and then letting the team match.

This off-season wasn't really a good example as 90% of the league had no real caproom. this summer it's a different story.

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I think restricted free agency is going to be so common with the new CBA that players feeling disrespected isn’t going to be as prominent as it once was. The CBA is forcing GM’s to all have to play hardball with the salary cap and the players aren’t stupid. Walker may want to get paid now but I’m sure he is fully aware that to build a competitive team the GM has to use available cap space to acquire other players. I guess it’s a risk the Jazz have in not resigning him now, but it’s the same problem all teams are now facing. And now that all teams are facing that situation it’s not going to be seen as such a slap in the face. Plus Walker being upset still means the Jazz are going to have him for years to come when he signs the next contract and who knows where the Jazz will be as a team once his next contract is coming up for an extension. Ideally they are a good team in 4-5 years and resigning is a no brainer. Or Walker is playing great and the Jazz move him in 2-4 years before his contract expires. Either way the Jazz will have control of Walker for years to come.

If Walker wasn’t a RFA I would be worried about this situation. I’m just not worried at the moment. We’re years and years away from it even potentially becoming an issue IMO.

Maybe I’m just being optimistic but I think I’m just being realistic.

To be clear, the original slap in the face was benching Kessler in his sophomore year so that the franchise could pursue new adventures in losing. The fact that after that they played hardball with Kessler would just make me want to burn the building down on top of that.

My observation and what I heard from podcasts, etc was Kessler was just struggling and having a down year compared to his first year and wasn’t getting as much playing time because of that. Not he was being benched to lose or whatever.

However since yesterday the Jazz had media day and apparently Kessler admits he is frustrated with the Jazz organization so maybe not extending him is a larger issue than I thought. We’ll see I guess. I still would do what the Jazz are doing if I was the GM. They need the ability to use the cap space. If they don’t use it in an effective way it’s going to be a bad decision, but they have to leave the chance they use it on the table.

Kessler didn't have a down year in his sophomore season, that's propestrous imo. his per 36 numbers are basically identical except a decline in Rebs. The Jazz were blatantly tanking, they benched him to play guys like Omer Yurtseven (whose now back in Europe where he belongs) or in short, they benched him to tank and not for any other reason. Even if he was slightly worse and took a little step back instead of making the expected sophomore jump, the Jazz weren't competing for anything and had no reason (other than tanking) to bench him

As for the OP, posters are getting carried away here. Kessler is def an outlier in terms of rebounding and especially Off. Reb and is an elite shot blocker but he doesn't have the skill set to be a starting C on a good playoff team and is unlikely to develop into one. He's a role player, might even be a good one but..he's not some blue chip prospect and isn't worth 30M even in today's NBA

even a guy like Gobert took a pay-cut now and even if he was younger, no1 would be giving him the max rn because that type of player is just not that valuable anymore

It's fine for Kessler to disagree and to want a bag but he's gonna find out that bag just isn't out there for him

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Kessler didn't have a down year in his sophomore season, that's propestrous imo. his per 36 numbers are basically identical except a decline in Rebs. The Jazz were blatantly tanking, they benched him to play guys like Omer Yurtseven (whose now back in Europe where he belongs) or in short, they benched him to tank and not for any other reason. Even if he was slightly worse and took a little step back instead of making the expected sophomore jump, the Jazz weren't competing for anything and had no reason (other than tanking) to bench him

As for the OP, posters are getting carried away here. Kessler is def an outlier in terms of rebounding and especially Off. Reb and is an elite shot blocker but he doesn't have the skill set to be a starting C on a good playoff team and is unlikely to develop into one. He's a role player, might even be a good one but..he's not some blue chip prospect and isn't worth 30M even in today's NBA

even a guy like Gobert took a pay-cut now and even if he was younger, no1 would be giving him the max rn because that type of player is just not that valuable anymore

It's fine for Kessler to disagree and to want a bag but he's gonna find out that bag just isn't out there for him

Oh, Kessler had a down sophomore season alright, take it from us Jazz fans. Also, the Jazz tried to be competitive in the first half of that season, and pivoted to tanking after the trade deadline when they traded away a bunch of players who helped them win games. And Kessler was pretty bad when the Jazz were trying to be competitive, and he was pretty bad after they started tanking.