Jazz's Walker Kessler Reveals How He Wants to Improve Next Season

What will the Utah Jazz center be focusing on this offseason?

Jan 20, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans center Daniel Theis (10) during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The Utah Jazz saw some big strides in development from third-year center Walker Kessler this season.

He finished his year putting together the best numbers of his career since entering in 2022, while a bit limited with 58 total games, He averaged 11.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2.4 blocks on 30 minutes a night; strong numbers to give the Jazz necessary confidence in their young center of the fututre.

Though, with the noticeable improvement in his game taking shape this season, don't expect Kessler to remain complacent in his efforts to improve this summer heading into the coming year.

Kessler recently dove into the ways he wants to get better heading into his fourth year in the fold, where he named one major part of his game he wants to improve next season: intensity.

"I think that I could speak to, obviously, free throws. I could speak to catch-and-shoot threes. I could speak to a lot of things, but more so than that, continuing to improve on how I play, the intensity I play with, and the effort I play with," Kessler said during end-of-season media. "Being relentless on the glass. Being relentless on the defensive guys... It's just going to continue to improve my game in totality, honestly."

"A lot of that is maturing. A lot of that is spending hours in the gym and weight room. A lot of that's just visual. It's just going to be continuing to learn."

For a young team like the Jazz have put together, the track of development is far from one that completes itself overnight. Kessler, while posting eye-catching performances and clearly improving from his first and second years pro, still has ways to hone his craft to further cement himself as the big man of the future in Utah.

And for Kessler, it all starts with exhibiting that high intensity–– something he plans to double down on heading into the 2025-26 season.

The stage is set for Kessler to have yet another nice year in Utah with a productive offseason on the way, and if that desire for intensity bleeds into the coming months during workouts and training before his age-23 season, we could be in for yet another breakout from the young big man come next season.

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