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Kessler's extension

What is the maximum amount that the Jazz should pay Kessler as part of his multi-year extension?

  • 5 million per year

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 10 million per year

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 15 million

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 20 million

    Votes: 5 22.7%

  • 25 million

    Votes: 11 50.0%

  • 30 million

    Votes: 4 18.2%

  • 35 million

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 40 million

    Votes: 1 4.5%

  • the rookie max

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Total voters
    22
J

jazznik

Well-Known Member
Walker Kessler is eligible to begin extension talks this summer. Everybody loves Walker. I know that ideally we would like him to sign the extension for $300,000 per year but in reality he could be asking for a bit more. At what price point should the Jazz rather say "We can't do it. Good luck!" and let him become a free agent in the summer of 2027 or trade him?
 
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Think my bottom line would be 25. I would lean towards 20 but I don't think that gets the deal done. I would say 30 and above holds some amount of risk if Walker doesn't progress or even regresses. Wouldn't want to tie up big cap to a defensive specialist type even if the defense is great. Then again, someone like Jalen Green got roughly 35 a year. Maybe I am just being too conservative.
 
5/$150M would seem to be a good reference point for Kessler. Both Jalen Johnson and Suggs signed for that amount. Suggs signed a front loaded deal with a team option fifth year and that’s probably what I would hope to see for Kessler.

Jarrett Allen signed and extension for 3/$91 that kicks in the same time Kessler’s would start, but it should be noted that was the max CLE was allowed to pay him.
 
jazznik said:
Walter Kessler is eligible to begin extension talks this summer. Everybody loves Walter. I know that ideally we would like him to sign the extension for $300,000 per year but in reality he could be asking for a bit more. At what price point should the Jazz rather say "We can't do it. Good luck!" and let him become a free agent in the summer of 2027 or trade him?
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Not to be that guy, but his name is "Walker".
 
SoberasHotRod said:
The first year is 38.7 then goes up.

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Oh, I meant the average annual payment for the contract. After all, not every rookie signs their extension for the same 5 years: some do for 3 years etc. I thought that that would take the length of the extension out of the consideration, at least to some degree. Otherwise it would be very hard to craft the poll options.
 
Poeltl and Zubac are at about $20 million. I think that's probably the starting point from the Jazz standpoint. Kessler probably starts by asking for the full rookie max since so many of the starting level rookies have gotten that recently. I think they could meet in the middle at about 30/yr.
 
jazznik said:
Oh, I meant the average annual payment for the contract. After all, not every rookie signs their extension for the same 5 years: some do for 3 years etc. I thought that that would take the length of the extension out of the consideration, at least to some degree. Otherwise it would be very hard to craft the poll options.
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Do you have an estimate for what his rookie max would be?
 
I think if you believe in him, you need to pay him Jarrett Allen money. He's not an All Star, but he's one of the best young defensive centers in the league. Give him a 4th year team option on a deal close to $100M (like 4/$96M).
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
I think if you believe in him, you need to pay him Jarrett Allen money. He's not an All Star, but he's one of the best young defensive centers in the league. Give him a 4th year team option on a deal close to $100M (like 4/$96M).
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I expect Walker to be a better center than Allen. It's not obvious right now because the Jazz are tanking, but I think everyone will see his true value around the 26/27 season.
 
Zubac isn’t a fair comparison. He was not as good as Kessler is now back then and was also limited to the amount he could get paid.
 
Just thinking out loud:

If we keep Lauri then we probably want to start being competitive sooner than later, so locking in Kessler becomes more important, but getting him on a good deal also becomes more important.

If we trade Lauri it probably doesn't matter as much if we keep Kessler or how much we pay him.

Does that sound right? Like I said I haven't thought this through.
 
Also should be noted that Kessler’s cap hold would only be $14M. Lauri is the only guy on the books not on a rookie contract in summer 2026. We could be looking at make a cap space play that season. We would be eating at our cap space, not sure how important that is.

The ideal path forward would be hitting the top of the 25 and 26 drafts and then hopefully our situation looks good enough to convince a FA to sign with us or we have flexibility to trade for the big fish to add to 25/26/Lauri/Kessler.
 
Jesus. 30M for a guy who’s a below average center who would be a 4th-5th option? Count me out. Draft a rookie in the 20’s who plays defense. Sign a couple vets. Do something. But spending 80M a year on Lauri and Kessler isn’t the right start imo.
 
Miggs said:
Jesus. 30M for a guy who’s a below average center who would be a 4th-5th option? Count me out. Draft a rookie in the 20’s who plays defense. Sign a couple vets. Do something. But spending 80M a year on Lauri and Kessler isn’t the right start imo.
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There are very few good centers in the next two drafts. It's probably too early on 2026, but I don't see many highly rated centers. There is a decent chance that Kessler is better than any center in the next two drafts.
 
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