NBA Fans Say Lakers Got Fleeced in Walker Kessler Trade After Jazz Land Haul in Blockbuster

The Los Angeles Lakers made their pivot on Wednesday following the news of LeBron James' impending departure, as they reportedly acquired center Walker Kessler in a sign-and-trade with the Utah Jazz.

According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the Lakers gave Kessler a four-year, $130 million contract as part of the deal, and they sent unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, and first-round pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 to Utah as part of the trade.

Based on how much the Lakers gave up, many NBA fans and pundits took to social media to criticize the move from L.A.'s perspective:

The 24-year-old Kessler was the 22nd overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, and he played his first four seasons in Utah.

In 201 career regular-season games, the 7'2" center owns averages of 9.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.2 assists, while shooting 68.1 percent from the field.

Kessler broke out in 2024-25 with career highs of 11.1 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, and he was on an early pace for a career year in 2025-26 with 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals per contest in five games.

He missed 77 games last season, though, after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum.

With James opting to sign elsewhere, the Lakers are now undoubtedly Luka Dončić's team, plus Austin Reaves will be a key part of the equation moving forward after recently signing a four-year contract extension.

On Wednesday, general manager Rob Pelinka was hard at work in terms of reshaping the roster around Dončić and Reaves, and making up for the loss of James.

In addition to acquiring Kessler, Charania reported that the Lakers agreed to free-agent deals with guards Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton, and center Sandro Mamukelashvili.

Those additions could make the Lakers a better team in 2026-27 than they were last season when they reached the second round of the playoffs despite Dončić missing the entire playoff run with a hamstring injury.

Trading future unprotected first-round picks is a major risk, though, especially when doing it to acquire a fairly unproven player coming off an injury like Kessler.