Walker Kessler
El Segundo, CA, - September 28, 2026: Los Angeles Lakers center Walker Kessler participates in the team's media day at the UCLA Health Training Center on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026 in El Segundo, CA. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Walker Kessler was back to being a full participant in practice on Sunday as he inches closer to making his Los Angeles Lakers preseason debut.
The Lakers have huge expectations for Kessler this season after acquiring him in a sign-and-trade with the Utah Jazz. L.A. gave up two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to get him before signing the seven-footer to a massive four-year, $130 million contract extension.
The Lakers believe Kessler is the ideal big man to complement Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and the rest of their roster. In addition to being a double-double threat on any given night, Kessler should also provide elite rim protection on defense.
Kessler knows he will have an important role on that side of the court and compared himself to a linebacker in football.
“Obviously Luka and AR, they’re very special players, especially offensively,” Kessler said after a recent practice. “So them kind of taking the lead of the offense. But I’ve been asked to kind of be the defensive anchor. So that’s going to be my role, to kind of be the linebacker of the defense, kind of take control of that.”
Kessler tends to be vocal on defense and will do plenty of communicating throughout games.
“Yeah, I talk a lot. Yeah, you’ll hear me. I yell a lot,” he said.
Kessler’s presence will go a long way as to whether the Lakers are able to have an improved defense this season. Jake LaRavia previously said the team’s perimeter defenders can be more aggressive due to having a deterrent at the rim.
“I love it. I love it. I’m a gambling man. So when it comes to defense, being able to play passing lanes and not have to worry about getting beat so much because you’ve got Walker as the back line defense, it’s going to make us wings and guards feel a lot more comfortable being a little bit more aggressive defensively, maybe being able to pick up fullcourt a little bit more,” LaRavia said at Media Day.
JJ Redick discusses keys to non-Walker Kessler lineups
Without Kessler on the floor this preseason, the Lakers have clearly lacked center depth with Kevon Looney and Sandro Mamukelashvili getting a majority of those minutes. Redick recently spoke about what he believes are the keys to those lineups.
“I think it’s important to have two of the bigger wings out there for rebounding purposes,” Redick said. “That was a concern just coming into the year, trying to be a good defensive rebounding team. What does that look like with Walker not on the court?
“I think in film it’s pretty apparent we need to do a better job of boxing out, just simple stuff and gang rebounding. That hurt us the other night. We’ll figure that out, but I think the biggest thing is trying to keep with same sort of limited playing time and getting guys reps and building them up. But having two bigger wings out there, Luka, Adou, Mamu, whoever that may be, as a wing with non-Walker lineups.”
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