Jan 1, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) shields the ball from New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Jazz Strongly Declined Knicks' Trade Idea at Deadline

Originally posted on Utah Jazz on SI | By Jared Koch | Last updated Mar 10, 2025 9:00 AM ET

The Utah Jazz were involved in their fair share of trade rumors leading to this year's NBA trade deadline.

Whether the deal revolved around John Collins, Jordan Clarkson, or even Collin Sexton, it seemed the Jazz were keeping the doors open for all potential options on the board, and if a trade they saw as appealing came across the desk, they'd entertain pulling the trigger.

However, the tone seemed much different from the Jazz regarding teams calling about a young cornerstone like Walker Kessler, and notably so for the New York Knicks.

During insider Marc Stein's appearance on the ALL NBA Podcast, he pulled the curtain back on some of the happenings with the talks between the Knicks and Jazz at the trade deadline, making it clear that not only was New York extremely interested in Kessler's services, but Utah would not entertain any deals for their third-year big man.

"After the deadline, I heard the Knicks were trying just as hard [as the Lakers]," Stein said. "The Knicks have been interested in Walker Kessler really going back to last offseason, and Utah's just not entertaining it. Before the deadline, Utah welcomed your calls on John Collins, on Jordan Clarkson... But the Jazz were pretty adamant: 'We're not listening. We don't want to hear your offers on Walker Kessler."

The Knicks, one of the team's struggling defensive units of this season, has ample reason to have intrigue in a player like Kessler to patch their woes on that side of the ball. However, the Jazz held no plans to help New York out by dealing them their own young defensive anchor –– especially when factoring in their already league-worst defense.

Kessler has had a dominant campaign during his third year in Salt Lake City. He's averaged career highs in almost every major stat category while leading the entire NBA in field goal percentage at 72.7%. Clearly, the Knicks would love to bring a guy like that into the fold, but Utah wasn't budging.

Rather than trying to get lucky on acquiring a young talent like Kessler, the Knicks will be forced to lean on their existing big man rotation of Karl-Anthony Towns and newly-recovered Mitchell Robinson to lead them through the stretch run of the season. It's far from a poor outlook, but perhaps not as strong of a two-way force as the Jazz big man would generate.

Heading into this offseason, deals could still be expected surrounding guys like Collins, Sexton, or Clarkson in the Jazz's pursuit of continuing to tear this roster down even more, but Kessler sticks as one of the few safe names on the roster, barring any unforeseen changes.

Instead, expect a big-time extension and much-deserved payday to come his way in the near future to become a cemented piece of Utah's rebuild.