The manner with which the Los Angeles Lakers have begun the 2024-25 season is giving fans plenty of hope with regards to a potential championship pursuit. Rejuvenated under head coach JJ Redick, the Lakers have been humming on both ends of the floor. However, their two most recent games, which were both losses to the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers, show that the Lakers may still be a piece or two away from being a legitimate contender.
Now, the Lakers could go in plenty of different directions as they search for a player who could elevate the team and is, most importantly, available on the trade market. They have reportedly been kicking the tires on a potential trade for Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler — talks that evidently went nowhere.
Still, there could, perhaps, still be a trade to be done between the Lakers and Jazz involving Kessler. But the Purple and Gold may have to offer a player not named D'Angelo Russell. As per Sam Amick and John Hollinger of The Athletic, a “possible framework” of a trade involving Russell and multiple first-round picks “would not be of interest” to the Jazz.
It's not as if taking on Russell's contract would require a huge financial undertaking for the Jazz. He is on the final year of his contract, and at a reasonable $18.7 million value at that. In the early goings of the season, it has become clear that he is one of the Lakers' most expendable players, especially amid the emergence of Austin Reaves.
Perhaps the Jazz would instead want to receive Max Christie or even Dalton Knecht in a potential trade. The Lakers are obviously high on both Christie and Knecht as helpful young pieces to supplement their superstar duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and it's unclear if they would see giving up one of those players to bring in Kessler, a non floor-spacer, to put alongside Davis.
Lakers and Jazz — simply a poor trade match
JJ Redick has tended to keep D'Angelo Russell on the bench during crunch time, which speaks volumes to how the Lakers see Russell's value in the non-scoring aspects of the game. This makes him and his expiring contract a valuable trade commodity, especially now that Austin Reaves is taking on an even bigger offensive role and Gabe Vincent is back healthy.
However, the Jazz have little-to-no use for a player of Russell's skillset. They are developing Keyonte George to be the team's lead guard, and he has Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson alongside him as his usual backcourt partner.
One NBA insider also believes that there's no way that the Jazz would help out the Lakers, although it must be noted that they were the team that took on Russell Westbrook's contract to receive a first-round pick in exchange. This then allowed the Lakers to claw their way back to the playoffs in 2023.
The Lakers and Jazz simply don't match well with one another as trade partners, and it will take a lot of compromise from either party for a deal to be made.
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