The Lakers committed picks and $130 million to a center who played five games last season
Walker Kessler started for the Lakers on Tuesday night in Las Vegas and, according to The Athletic, played only the first half. He finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, one block and one steal in a 101-89 preseason loss to the Golden State Warriors, and The Athletic reported that the Lakers outscored Golden State by 15 points in his minutes.
It was his first NBA action since Oct. 31, 2025, five games into last season. The Athletic reported that he missed the rest of that season after shoulder surgery, and Yahoo described the injury as a torn labrum in his left shoulder. A left pinky, jammed against the backboard during a practice, had already kept him out of the Lakers' first three exhibitions.
"Before the game, I was actually pretty nervous, to be honest," Kessler said afterward. He pointed the credit outward: "I think I have a certain presence on the floor, but I think my teammates around me did a great job of playing defense on the perimeter."
The context of the half matters as much as the line. Luka Dončić did not play, and coach JJ Redick said, "He's not injured, just getting the night off." The Athletic framed the trade as the Lakers seeking a top-line center for Dončić, so the pairing the deal is built around has not yet shared a floor this preseason.
What the half did show, per Yahoo's account, fits the role. Kessler scored on a cut off a pass from Austin Reaves, blocked Charles Bassey from behind and turned an offensive rebound into a dunk. When the Warriors went small and he was left guarding Gary Payton II on the perimeter, away from where the Lakers prefer him, Yahoo wrote that he held his own.
The price is what makes a preseason half worth reading closely: The Athletic reported that the Lakers sent Utah two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps, and Yahoo described the picks as unprotected. The deal was a sign-and-trade, and according to Yahoo and Headtopics he then signed a four-year, $130 million contract, which Headtopics reported was meant to make him the franchise center. The guaranteed money, the salary for each season and the season the deal starts have not been reported.
Last season's figures, earned with the Utah Jazz, show what the shoulder did to the money. His $4.9M salary bought production from 5 of his team's 82 games, and per WAGE that season total ranked 348th of the 435 rated players.
His WAGE Score for 2025-26 was 28, in the Under Water tier, against 82 the season before. I read that drop as a count of games rather than a verdict on his play: a season's output built in five appearances cannot rank high however those appearances went.
The ranks make the same point from another angle. In 2024-25 his production ranked 62nd while his salary ranked 298th; last season, with the games gone, his production rank fell below his salary rank.
None of that carries forward. The 2024-25 score was earned on his salary in Utah, and the new contract will need its own reading once its season-by-season terms and a season of games exist.
So the new money asks for two things the old figures cannot promise: a full season of availability, and production at a scale that fits a franchise-center contract next to Dončić.
There is a real case for optimism in Tuesday's half. The margin in his minutes and a credible stretch guarding a small lineup are the signals a team wants from a center coming off shoulder surgery.
I'm not convinced they settle much yet. It was one preseason half, without the star he was acquired to play beside, and no plan for his regular-season minutes has been reported. The picks and the contract are a bet on many seasons; the first half in Las Vegas confirms only that the bet is back on the floor.