Jazz C Walker Kessler ‘Sleeper Bet’ for Defensive Player of the Year

The Utah Jazz may be just over a year removed from dealing away their 3-time Defensive Player of the Year-winning C Rudy Gobert, but might already have another contender to take home the trophy as soon as next year.

Entering the 2023-24 NBA season, FanDuel Sportsbook places Kessler at a long-shot +2000 to take home Defensive Player of the Year. While it fails to rank among the peak of the group with stars like F Giannis Antetokounmpo, C Joel Embiid, or C Bam Adebayo, it still gives the Jazz center some room to work with.

Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey makes a case for Kessler to be a ’sleeper' candidate to earn the award come season end:

"In 2023-24, Walker Kessler won't have to spend half of the season earning his coach's trust and beating out a veteran (Jarred Vanderbilt) for minutes. He'll be the unquestioned starter from the outset. His defense in that role was nothing like that of a typical rookie.In 40 starts, Kessler averaged 6.4 defensive rebounds and 2.7 blocks in 27.7 minutes per game. And over the entire season, the Utah Jazz's plus-minus per 100 possessions was plus-2.8 with Kessler on the floor compared to minus-4.0 with him off."

A factor that looks to help Kessler enter his sophomore year should be the heavy increase in minutes and opportunities that come with it. Now slotted in as a nightly starter for Utah, seeing the defensive anchor develop into an expanded role from his first season in the league is imminent.

It might come down to just how successful the Jazz end up being next year to see Kessler become a substantial possibility to get the honors. Oftentimes, the award is earned by the best defensive player on one of the best (if not, the best) defensive teams in the league. That means Utah has to take extensive strides from a season ago to give The Sheriff a better case to win.

There is lots of potential for this roster to make a big jump this season, but it all depends on how quickly this group can piece things together. A young and mostly inexperienced core could have this team slow to start winning meaningful games, but maybe a strong campaign from Kessler could accelerate this team’s timeline even further.

Follow Inside The Jazz on Facebook and X.

Subscribe on YouTube for breaking Jazz news videos and live-streams.