Lakers overpay to land center of the future

The Los Angeles Lakers finally got Luka Doncic the premium center he wanted. It didn't come cheap.

Walker Kessler agreed to a four-year, $130M deal with the Lakers after Los Angeles sent two unprotected first-round picks and two swaps to the Utah Jazz. It's a stiff price to pay for a big man with sky-high potential but limited results so far.

Lakers are locked into their core

Thanks to several expiring contracts and the departure of LeBron James, the Lakers went into the offseason with a great deal of cap space. They used most of it in a flurry of transactions Wednesday, trading for Kessler and signing three other free agents to big deals, with the agreed-upon maximum extension for Austin Reaves already in place.

The Lakers agreed to the following contracts:

Austin Reaves, 28 years old: Four years, $185M

Walker Kessler, 24 years old: Four years, $130M

Quentin Grimes, 26 years old: Four years, $60M

Sandro Mamukelashvili, 27 years old: Four years, $52M

Collin Sexton, 27 years old: Two years, $19M (player option in 2027-28)

With Doncic locked in for two more seasons, this is effectively the Lakers team going forward, barring some smaller signings at the margins. Grimes and Mamukelashvili were both effective reserves last season who will improve the Lakers' three-point shooting. 

Sexton becomes the backup point guard who provides offense off the bench, and Kessler moves incumbent center Deandre Ayton to the bench — or off the roster. All these players are in their prime, though that may not be the case for many of them three seasons from now.

Walker Kessler deal is a big gamble for the Lakers

Kessler has a lot of potential as a defensive anchor, having averaged 2.4 blocks in his four-year career. He's a massive presence, standing 7-foot-2 and listed at 245 pounds, who led the NBA in offensive rebounds in 2024-25.

But he's also coming off a season where he played just five games thanks to a shoulder injury. He missed 18 games in his second season and missed 24 games in 2024-25. It's not a great injury history for a player who just locked in for four seasons.

The move was expensive in terms of draft capital as well. Thanks to previous trades, the Lakers don't control their own first-round pick until 2032. They owe their 2027 pick to the Memphis Grizzlies (top-4 protected), their 2029 pick to the Dallas Mavericks and their 2031 and 2033 picks to the Jazz, as well as swaps in 2028 and 2030. That severely limits the team's opportunities to make further moves — or restock the roster through the draft.

Perhaps the Lakers thought they needed Kessler to counter Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, Chet Holmgren and other Western Conference big men. And he may be highly effective as a lob threat for Doncic, who loves setting up his centers.

But the price was very high for Kessler, as it was for the three other backups the Lakers signed. The Lakers went all-in for this free-agent class. It remains to be seen if they've actually gotten better.