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A gulf remains between restricted free agent center Walker Kessler and the Jazz after Utah put an offer worth roughly $140 million over five years on the table, sources told ESPN. It would be the largest contract ever given to a center who had yet to be an All-Star. The Jazz have the right to match any offer sheet that Kessler signs as a restricted free agent.
According to Tim MacMahon on Utah ESPN 700 Radio, Walker Kessler has received an offer from the Utah Jazz for a 5-year, $ 140 M deal, but apparently it wasn’t enough. MacMahon was asked if he thinks that Kessler wants to play in Utah, and he responded: “… for more than 5 years, $140M.” It also sounds like there are some real frustrations with how the Jazz have gone about his contract situation. Apparently, the Jazz feel that they can have any hurt feelings improve over time once the contract is signed.
![“He showed that star potential when Luka [Doncic] got …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/1121277.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
League sources say Kessler, meanwhile, has long wanted to remain in Utah but is extremely disappointed with the way his situation is being handled. What’s more, there has long been an expectation that he would be a long-term priority, and part of the solution, after the Jazz spent recent years in rebuilding mode under the direction of owner Ryan Smith.
Though Peterson described himself as a point guard at the NBA Combine, league sources believe Utah views the Ohio native as a potential backcourt partner for Keyonte George, sharing playmaking duties.
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When he first made the journey from Mali to Utah in 2019, Keita was just 16 years old. That trip, which he made on his own, marked the first time that he had been on an airplane. Then he arrived in a place where he was struggling with the language, at first communicating through Google Translate with his host family, who would eventually become his legal guardians. He had to learn how to live with fully integrated indoor plumping, running water and electricity. He learned how to cook on a stove rather than over an open flame. He learned how to eat with dishes and utensils regularly and then utilize the dishwasher. Meanwhile, as he was intensively studying English more and more, he was adjusting to a wildly different culture.
There were rumbles during the regular season that Cleveland would have interest in pursuing Quin Snyder — Donovan Mitchell's former coach in Utah — in the event of a coaching change there, but sources with knowledge of the Cavaliers' thinking have pushed back on such suggestions, insisting that Kenny Atkinson was always destined to retain his job for a third season.
But given that neither Jackson nor fellow big man Lauri Markkanen is a full-time center, Kessler remains an important player in Utah's path back to contention in the Western Conference. The consensus is that Kessler is signing a new deal with the Jazz in the range of $25 million to $30 million a year. "It appears Utah is gearing up to keep him," an East scout said. "I don't see an obvious fit in free agency for someone to try to get him. They're going to be in an interesting spot next season, and I'm excited to see how they navigate all of it."
To use the Memphis example above, some asked why the restriction wouldn’t be that Utah couldn’t land in the top five in 2027 regardless of whose pick it owned. Surely the rule was never designed to stop the Grizzlies from picking there. As multiple general managers told The Athletic long before this rule was adopted, however, this created asymmetries in the market that likely would have resulted in teams of roughly equal talent just trading picks with each other. Teams could also sidestep trade restrictions by agreeing long beforehand to make trades immediately after the draft. “That was the system that we felt was most ripe for manipulations, because there are both timing elements and arbitrated elements,” Wasch said. “Teams could theoretically agree to trade right after the draft, skirting the restriction that way, or trade in advance to avoid the restriction and extract value some other way.”
I've heard some strategists suggest that teams in Utah's position might seek as many picks as possible between 2027 and 2029 because the lottery will be just too tantalizing for the next three years. One such strategist told me this week that, if tasked with finding a new trade home for Giannis Antetokounmpo, he would advise the Bucks to seek as many picks in the same draft year as possible if they are higher on, say, 2028's projected class of draftees compared to 2027 or 2029. That way Milwaukee could theoretically give itself a greater chance at not only the No. 1 overall pick but perhaps multiple picks in the same draft that could jump into the top five.
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League sources tell The Stein Line contributor Jake Fischer, furthermore, that two additional previously unreported names have also advanced to those stages: Boston's Tyler Lashbrook and Utah's Mike Williams. Sources say various candidates will fly into Portland this weekend as the process continues. Portland's search has been multilayered to date and thus challenging even for NBA coaching insiders to track, given that some candidates have spoken primarily to Blazers general manager Joe Cronin, while others have spoken directly to new Blazers owner Tom Duncan and some have spoken to both.
They likely will be connected to big names around the league, such as Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen − though Utah just traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. to pair with Markkanen − and Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard, who will be entering the final year of his deal and will make $50.3 million in 2026-27 at age 35. The Pistons have all of their first-round picks, including the 21st overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft and a trove of second-round picks down the road to include in deals.
One front-office official we spoke with who voted for Dybantsa said that the Utah Jazz, who won the No. 2 pick in the lottery, would be an enticing potential trade partner. “Utah has got assets and good players,” the respondent said. “The question is: How good of a player could you get from the Jazz?”
Brian Windhorst: The sentiment that I have heard is that Washington is sending out the message that they’re willing to deal, but if they do a deal, people think it will most likely not be with Utah. Of course, there’s a long time between now and then. Tim Bontemps: I feel pretty confident the Wizards are going to pick somebody at number one. Tim MacMahon: There were some—how do I want to say this—feathers ruffled in Salt Lake City about perceived shenanigans with Ace Bailey in the pre-draft process last year. They thought maybe there were some shenanigans with the Wizards, who signed a two-way player named Sharife Cooper, who is Omar Cooper’s son.