NBA Legend: Walker Kessler Is A Bigger X-Factor For 2026-27 Lakers Than Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves
Credits: Fadeaway World (Walker Kessler) and Imagn Images (Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves)
Robert Horry, the seven-time NBA champion, recently appeared on the Mason and Ireland show, where he spoke about the 2026-27 Lakers. While referring to his previous comments about Walker Kessler, Horry went so far as to say that the former Jazz center could be a bigger swing factor for the Lakers this season than Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
“Oh man, it hurts my heart to have to root for an Auburn guy. You know, it’s just rooting for the Lakers. I said the dang Lakers got me rooting for an Auburn guy,” Robert Horry hilariously said initially as Walker Kessler attended Auburn, which is the rival college of the NBA legend’s alma mater, Alabama.
“When you watch what Walker Kessler brings to the game, he’s so incredibly skilled, and we haven’t had a big since AD that can block shots like that and pop out for threes. So I just hope he stays healthy,” he further added.
“That’s the one thing about our Laker team. You think about Luka in the playoffs; he wasn’t healthy. AR at the end of the season, unhealthy. Him missing damn near all season, how much rust has he developed? Will he be able to knock that rust off and come back and be the center that everybody’s expecting to be?”
“So it’s going to be really interesting to see what he can do because he is the key. Not Luka, not AR; he is,” Horry claimed.
Kessler played only five games in 2025-26 after surgery on his left shoulder kept him out for the entire season. In those five games, he averaged 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while shooting 70.3% from the field and 75.0% from behind the three-point line.
Despite sounding optimistic about his expectations for Walker Kessler, Horry held back on whether the Lakers have become title contenders as a result of their offseason changes.
“I see a lot of guys individually are really good and skilled at what they do. I like to call what we do, people like myself, specialists, and what they have is a bunch of specialists, but it’s going to take a lot of practice time for them to gel and understand who they are together.
“So I’m holding back right now because I want to see them. A lot of these guys you see on teams, and they have a role that might be different with the Lakers. So it’s going to be very interesting- the product they put on the court,” Horry said later on the show.
While Horry believes the Lakers have strong individual players, they seemingly need a glue guy to stick the team together and build chemistry as a new unit.
And even though Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves can be a major threat on the offensive end, they can be just as big vulnerabilities on the defensive end. So until they fix the holes in their offensive and defensive schemes around what the other players will bring to the table beyond the top two guys, they can not be truly considered championship contenders.
Hence, I agree with Horry that until we see the team perform together on the court against a strong opponent like maybe Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs (who went to the NBA Finals in 2025-26), it will be hard to ascertain whether the new-look Lakers are a threat to dethrone the defending-champion Knicks next season.
And Kessler’s performance will certainly be a key factor in determining that.