Few positions in the history of the NBA have more prestige and history than the center position for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Reading off the names of players who have anchored the paint in purple and gold is like listing off inner-circle Hall of Famers.
Mikan. Kareem. Wilt. Shaq. AD. All have title-winning legacies with the franchise and all were included among the top 75 players all-time in 2021. And that’s not even an extensive list.
Lining up at center for the Lakers carries pressure and expectation under any circumstance. But Walker Kessler, who the team officially announced on Wednesday, is going to have a lot of weight on his shoulders.
Coming into the summer, the top priority for the front office was finding a center. It has long been a hole in the starting lineup, with patchwork attempts failing to do the job. Once Luka made it clear he wanted a big man to pair with in the offseason, the onus was on Rob Pelinka to find the long-term solution.
To do so, the Lakers had to make a big gamble.
The top names on the market were restricted free agents and while the Lakers had the cap space to make teams sweat, they did not have the luxury of time. So, the Lakers calculated the risk and pushed their chips they’ve held so tightly to the middle of the table to acquire Kessler.
Two first round picks and two pick swaps later and Kessler was inked to a four-year deal that will pay him north of $30 million annually. It’s an enormous contract for a player but whose biggest accolade in the NBA so far is a spot on First Team All-Rookie in 2023.
No All-Star games. No All-NBA teams. No All-Defense teams. But, at still just 24 years old, it’s a gamble the Lakers felt was worth making, and it’s not hard to see why.
While he hasn’t received official honors for his defense, he’s widely regarded as one of the league’s best rim protectors. His 2.4 blocks per game career average is as good an indicator as any of his ability to defend the paint.
Considering how much the Lakers struggled at defending the rim last season, that alone makes Kessler a welcome addition. He’s the type of big man who not only can deter shots in the paint, but will make defenses second-guess even attempting them.
It’s just as easy to see him meshing offensively as well. He has established himself as a great pick-and-roll big, able to finish at the rim or make plays out of the short roll. It’ll be the staple of the Lakers’ offense, no matter if it’s Luka Dončić or Austin Reaves running the show.
The questions come with whether Kessler’s game can translate on a bigger stage and in a bigger volume.
There’s a difference between doing it for 30 minutes per night with the Jazz and doing it for 30 minutes per night with the Lakers. Every team is now going to be scouting the Luka-Kessler pick and roll. Can he still produce at the same level of efficiency?
No longer can he hide in obscurity. The lights are a lot brighter in Los Angeles than they are in Salt Lake City. Some players are built to step up and some aren’t.
Pelinka and the front office made a gamble that he’s the former and not the latter and used all their remaining tradeable draft picks to do so. The core of this era of the Lakers will be Luka, Kessler and Reaves.
Whether that’s the core of a contending team will largely lie in the hands of Kessler being the center of the future. As much as the Lakers believe that to be the case, they need it to be true, or the Luka era could be doomed from the start.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
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