Celtics eye Walker Kessler as Utah Jazz struggles mount

The Boston Celtics have been eyeing Utah's young talented center, Walker Kessler, but at 24 years old and on a rookie deal, it seemed unlikely for the Jazz to part with him. However, things may be changing as Kessler is reportedly at odds with the front office over his lack of extension offer last summer and the current handling of his restricted free agency.

That's the last thing the Jazz want to hear, and we've seen how ugly restricted free agency situations can get. If the Jazz don't want to join this group, they might need to get ahead of this problem and consider trading Kessler before negotiations turn ugly. Despite missing almost all of last season with a torn labrum, Kessler established himself as one of the game's best young bigs the season prior, averaging 11.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks in the 2024-25 season.

Kessler is a conventional center who can dominate around the rim, and it would be hard to do much better than him. Perhaps this is just some smoke, and both sides will come to the table and work something out, but perhaps not. The fact that this news has gotten out there should prompt the Celtics to reach out to the Jazz and see what's going on.

The Jazz already have some size with Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Kyle Filipowski, plus they could bring back Jusuf Nurkic in free agency. With all their young talent set to get more expensive soon, they may want to punt on paying another big man big money. Maybe this is the opportunity they've been looking for all along, and for all we know, they're going to draft another big man in the next week.

While it's hard to know exactly what Kessler wants in free agency or what the Jazz would want in a trade, the Celtics could take him on via sign-and-trade using their Anfernee Simons traded player exception. Add a couple of picks on top, and throw in a Sam Hauser, and we could be cooking. These rumors don't come out for no reason, and if the relationship is ruined in Utah, the Celtics have no better place to look than their old home.