Updates surrounding the availability of sought-after big man
01/27/2025 03:04 PM
Long shot trade now looks even less likely
It's been very well documented just how badly the Knicks have explored ways to acquire a rim protecting big man. Jonas Valanciunas, Clint Capela, Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, Jusuf Nurkic, Clint Capela, Nick Richards, Robert Williams, and more have all been linked to the Knicks at some point over the last few months. But none of those names have generated the kind of excitement and discourse that Walker Kessler has.
Now, Kessler is coming off of a down season in which he saw his production and role time take an unexpected step back. He went from starting 40 of his 74 games as a rookie, to just 22 of his 64 games in his second season. And during his sophomore year, his scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage all took a dip. That, in addition to Utah's drafting of center, Kyle Filipowski, made Kessler seem like an obvious trade piece.
But Kessler has looked better than he ever has this season. Now a full-time starter for the Jazz, Kessler is averaging 29.7MPG, 11.3PPG, 11.4RPG, 1.5APG, and 2.4BPG, while shooting 73.3% from the field, which are all career-highs. Combine that with the fact that the breakout big man is just 23 years-old, and it's no surprise that he's been coveted by not just the Knicks, but by a handful of other contenders as well.
So why hasn't he been traded yet? Do the the Jazz want to just wait until the trade deadline to see what happens? Maybe they don't want to trade him to certain teams? Or are they just unsure or what they want to do with him? Does Utah, and more importantly, Danny Ainge, have too high of an asking price? Any of those things could have been true, with the last one being the most likely, given Ainge's past. But it seems like it may be something different. On Monday morning, NBA insider Marc Stein reported that Kessler, "is believed to [be] as close to unavailable as it gets with less than 10 days to go before the trade deadline."
The Knicks acquiring Kessler seemed like a long shot to begin with. And those chances seemed to get lower and lower as the season went on. The Knicks had very little assets that a rebuilding team like the Jazz would want. Kessler had taken a leap as a player that the Jazz could seemingly build around. And there were plenty of other teams that would not only drive up the price of Kessler, but also had more enticing packages to send to Utah.
Anything can happen between now and next Thursday's trade deadline. And this could be a way for the Jazz to try and drive up Kessler's price. But it's seeming less and less likely that he'll be traded at all, let alone to the Knicks. If New York, as reported, are still in the market for a backup big, it looks like they'll have to look elsewhere.
