The Utah Jazz have started preseason with a bang. Ace Bailey is showing why he was such a touted prospect with a fantastic preseason debut. But with all the excitement of the young core of the Jazz, there is still a story underlying the season right now: Walker Kessler’s contract situation.
Last week on Utah Jazz Media Day, Kessler revealed frustration at not having a contract finalized. In the latest Zach Lowe podcast, we got a little more information on why.
In the podcast, Zach Lowe talked about Kessler and the Jazz and mentioned the contract situation:
I think he was asking for a lot from what I’ve heard.
This is more proof that everything might not be as smooth as we think between the Jazz and Kessler. The story from Utah was that Kessler understood what was going on, but it seems like he understands the Jazz don’t want to pay him what he wants. And, if we’re being honest, the Jazz can’t be paying Kessler a crazy amount. We can only surmise what he’s asking for, but if it’s in the 25-30M range, you just can’t do that for a traditional center, as good as he may be. That may just be my opinion, but considering how much the Jazz have worked to keep their books clean, I’m guessing they agree.
We’ll see what happens next offseason, but it’s possible there’s a team out there that might be willing to throw a nice offer to Utah. Considering Kessler is on a nice contract right now, it would be a good idea. You don’t want to be in a situation like they’re in with Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen has value if the Jazz want to trade him, but his huge contract makes it really difficult, if they even want to.
