How Utah Jazz Plan to Address Center Needs After Walker Kessler Trade

The Utah Jazz's lineup has one clear hole heading into next season: center.

It comes after the Jazz made the move to trade Walker Kessler to the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this offseason. Rather than deciding to pay Kessler as their center for the long term, they got multiple first-round picks and swaps for him, and let him head to LA on a four-year, $130 million deal.

So now, the Jazz are left to decide how to find their next long-term center. And according to NBA insider Tim MacMahon of ESPN, they'll be keeping a close eye on the trade market to make it happen.

"Finding a long-term solution at center will be a priority for the front office, but it will probably require some patience," MacMahon wrote. "The Jazz will keep an eye on the trade market, and at some point, they’ll likely use some of the draft capital acquired in the Kessler sign-and-trade to target his replacement"

Jazz Looking to Trade Market for Long-Term Center Solution?

The Jazz know they need to attack their needs at center at some point before they make the transition from being a .500 team to a title-contending team in the Western Conference.

Right now, Utah doesn't have the rim protector they could really use in the middle next to Jaren Jackson Jr., and has their five spot held down by Jusuf Nurkic, Kyle Filipowski, and Jaxson Hayes. So in due time, it'll be a position worth investing in to improve.

But the Jazz aren't going to rush and panic to patch their hole at center, even after Kessler is no longer on the roster. They'll be waiting for the right opportunity to arise to find that ideal fit to fill Kessler's place, which seems more than likely to appear on the trade market over any other route that might be on the table.

Utah doesn't have a ton of cap flexibility to sign a starting-caliber name who arises in free agency, and finding a center of that caliber through the draft is much easier said than done––especially for a Jazz team that won't have the rights to their first-round pick in next year's draft.

Oct 22, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy (left) and Utah Jazz Owner Ryan Smith speak before the game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

So the trade market feels like the way for the Jazz to go for that final piece at center. But rather than investing a ton of first-round picks to attack their needs before this coming season tips off, they'll remain patient and wait for the right opportunity and right player to acquire.

For now, the Jazz will work with their current, talented core as-is, try to make a push to the postseason for the first time in four seasons, and continue to develop their young core into a true title-contender, which might not be too far away once this team is able to find their next center of the future to plug that hole in the middle.

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