For the first time in 11.5 months, Walker Kessler suited up for an NBA basketball game Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors. Making his Los Angeles Lakers preseason debut, the 25-year-old was mighty productive in just 16 minutes of action, tallying 11 points (4-of-6 shooting), nine rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal.
“It was a lot of fun being out there again. It’s been so long,” Kessler told reporters postgame. “Before the game, I was actually pretty nervous, but getting out there and
just playing with the guys, it was a blast. I think I have a certain presence on the floor, but I think my teammates around me did a great job of playing defense on the perimeter and we shared the ball really well tonight. So it was a lot of fun.”
Kessler was an effective play-finisher exploiting pockets of space and connected with Austin Reaves for a pair of buckets in the pick-and-roll; it’s not hard to envision him forming a tidy pick-and-roll partnership with Luka Dončić, who got the night off Tuesday. He also attacked the glass to gobble up rebounds and punctuate defensive stops.
Head coach JJ Redick was complimentary of his starting center’s impact and recognized the discrepancy in Los Angeles’ performance when he was on the court versus when he wasn’t — a contrast he doesn’t want to be as jarring as it was Tuesday. With Kessler on the floor, the Lakers outscored Golden State by 15 points. When he sat, they were outscored by 27 points.
“I think he’s a great fit for our team. I thought he did a nice job of running the floor, crashing, had some terrific rebounds in traffic, protected the rim. Just [a] really, really good first half from him,” Redick said. “They had two offensive rebounds at halftime and they had 13 in the second half. He didn’t played in the second half. That’s an area of concern through the four preseason games. We’ve got to be able to do a better job of rebounding, in general, whether he’s on the floor or not. But I thought, overall, just really good for someone who didn’t play for whatever it is, 10 days [this preseason].”
You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.
