Collin Sexton's Recent Walker Kessler Quote Is Bittersweet for Jazz Fans

The Utah Jazz had to see two of their former players reunite on the Los Angeles Lakers this summer.

In the minutes following the Lakers' deal to acquire Walker Kessler from the Jazz at the start of free agency, Los Angeles would make a subsequent contract happen for Collin Sexton.

For Jazz fans, they know that Kessler and Sexton have been long-standing pieces of the team's rebuild for multiple seasons. Both were paired up with one another from 2022 to 2025, when Sexton was traded to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Jusuf Nurkic.

But now, the two are back together in a Lakers jersey, and for Sexton, he's pumped to be back on the same roster as Kessler.

“Walker, that’s my guy, we’re both from Atlanta,” Sexton said on the Lakers' YouTube channel. “I grew up watching Walker. When I was in the league, I knew he was next coming out. So playing in Utah, we created some really good chemistry together and even in the summertime, we always work out together. So, it’s cool to have him as my teammate again.”

Collin Sexton, Walker Kessler Teaming Up Again in LA

It's some bittersweet words from Sexton for Jazz fans to stomach.

On one hand, the Jazz are taking the next step this season, on track to win many more games than they did with either Sexton and Kessler on the roster. If things swing their way, Utah could be making the postseason come April, and end a four-year drought that's had a ton of low points throughout.

However, seeing a team like the Lakers now competing against the Jazz in the same conference with two former fixtures of Utah's roster like Kessler and Sexton in the fold with them, that certainly stings.

Mar 31, 2024; Sacramento, California, USA; Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (left) talks with guard Collin Sexton (2) during halftime against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The former Jazz representation doesn't end on the Lakers' roster with Kessler and Sexton either. Jarred Vanderbilt, who was a brief piece of Utah's rebuild for 52 games in the 2022-23 season, is still in Los Angeles following his trade there in 2023.

That 2022-23 roster was also one that Kessler and Sexton were on; the first real season of Utah's rebuild that came after the trades sending out Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert went down in the summer of 2022, and resulted with them logging a 37-45 record at the end of the year.

Since then, the Jazz have been broken down further, rebuilt with a new young core with multiple All-Stars, and have a much different set of circumstances from that 2022-23 season. Sexton and Kessler have been a large part of those seasons, yet will now be competing together on the other side.

So the Jazz are onto bigger and better things, sure. But when watching the Lakers, their roster is starting to feel a bit like the Minnesota Timberwolves' has for the past couple of seasons: a group that's built with several former pieces of the Jazz, many of which are rotational pieces, and some you can't help but cheer for.

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