Why Utah Jazz's Walker Kessler Trade Looks Even Better With Time

The Utah Jazz are close now to two months removed from their offseason blockbuster to ship out defensive anchor Walker Kessler to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign-and-trade deal.

Utah gave up their young, defensive anchor and restricted free agent to send him over to the Lakers, acquiring two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps in exchange for Kessler, while Los Angeles opted to pay him a four-year, $130 million contract alongside their trade.

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers are acquiring Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz for unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030, sources tell ESPN. Kessler will sign a massive four-year, $130 million deal with the Lakers. pic.twitter.com/rt8b17fEQZ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2026

It was a deal that, at the time, was met with some mixed reviews. Utah sent out their young, defensive anchor that fit their timeline and their current roster construction, and all signs were pointing towards the Jazz inking an inevitably new deal for him. Instead, he was gone less than a week into free agency.

But now, the dust has settled on that trade. Moves have taken place around the league––and around the Jazz's roster––which allows the Kessler deal to now be looked back upon with a bit of a different perspective.

And in light of recent news across the NBA, it's not a stretch to say that the Jazz's trade involving Kessler tends to look a whole lot better now than it did in the moment.

Why the Jazz's Walker Kessler Trade Now Looks Even Better

Earlier this week, the NBA saw another restricted free agent situation similar to Walker Kessler's finally reach a solution after a multiple-week stalemate: the Denver Nuggets agreed to trade Peyton Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a multi-team deal.

That deal, for the Nuggets, netted them a 2031 first-round pick from the Cavaliers and a 2032 second-round pick from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Watson; a 23-year-old two-way wing who's coming off the best season of his career in 2025-26.

BREAKING: Cleveland, Denver and the Clippers have agreed on a trade sending Peyton Watson to the Cavaliers, Max Strus to LA, and an unprotected 2031 Cavs first-round pick and a 2032 Kings second-rounder to the Nuggets, sources tell ESPN.

Watson will sign a new four-year, $88… pic.twitter.com/hXqL3JvsU4
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 19, 2026

The Jazz's Kessler situation and the Nuggets' Watson situation have some clear differences. The two teams are in vastly different settings in terms of where they are as a roster, and especially when it concerns what their cap space looks like.

But at the same time, there's also a ton of parallels between these two.

Both teams had a young, restricted free agent looking to get paid more than the team was willing to offer, came off an injury-shortened season where their value became a little murky, and felt that a sign-and-trade was the better way to move forward than to simply stomach the cap implications.

Oct 31, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) dunks in the first half between the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For the Jazz, their decision to pivot from Kessler––which they landed on a bit more quickly than the Nuggets did for their free agent––ended up working in their favor.

They got multiple first-rounders and pick swaps across the next seven years, freed themselves of the financial burden to pay Kessler for the next four seasons, and have a realistic pathway towards getting better in the future while still getting rid of a key cornerstone piece.

That was the vision in place from the Jazz's front office when they pulled the trigger with the Lakers. The deal might make them worse in the short term, but over the next several years, those assets received can develop into something serious.

Denver, however, didn't get the same results in their approach with Watson.

They hesitated to find a solution on Watson, let their negotiations sour, wound up accepting a trade package that feels significantly below his true value, and now look like a significantly worse roster now from what they had ending last season.

So for their restricted free agent trade chip, the Nuggets got a first-round pick from the Cavaliers five years from now. The Jazz, however, landed four firsts in the next seven years––all for a player who might be marginally better than the one that Denver just shipped off this week.

Bottom Line

The Nuggets probably walked into those Watson sign-and-trade talks expecting a bigger rip, simply because of the way that the Jazz cashed in on Kessler. If the Jazz can get multiple first-rounders for their prized restricted free agent, why couldn't Watson find that same return?

Instead, the Nuggets got far less than the Jazz did. And inevitably, it allows Utah's decision to cut ties and move quickly to age far better than Denver's call to wait, remain patient, and hope that a godfather-esque offer could come in exchange for their restricted free agent.

So for now, the Jazz's front office is probably feeling great about this offseason and the way things went. Once they get into the motions of the regular season, we'll see if the test of time still holds up as it has so far.

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