The Utah Jazz were not expected by many folks to be a playoff, or even a play-in team in the 2025-26 season. They have multiple first-round picks getting minutes, while still trying to find time for all of the other young players.
As Lauri Markkanen has continued to put up monster numbers, the guys around have looked good. Tey have unfortunately lost one of them for the entire season.
News broke early Wednesday afternoon that Walker Kessler would miss the remainder of the season after appearing in just five total games. This is not great news for the team at all.
Walker Kessler Out for Season
Reporter Chris Haynes broke the news that Walker Kessler’s season would be coming to a very swift ending on Wednesday. Reported just three minutes later by Shams Charania, the injury was confirmed to be a torn labrum. For the team to lose one of their main building blocks at this point in the season is certainly less than ideal.
Kessler had been expanding his game in the early part of the season. He started attempting threes last year, and in his five appearances, he had made six of his eight attempts from downtown. As seen below, this was something that was looking smooth. One of the best rim protectors in the league, he was expanding his range to be a true stretch five.
The Jazz lost Taylor Hendricks early last season, and he’s still working his way back into full form. Isaiah Collier is yet to debut this season. And lottery-pick Ace Bailey is still finding his footing. Unfortunately, they won’t have their top big man in the lineup for the rest of the year to develop along with them.
Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen have clearly been the team’s top two guys to-date. They will be the two who will be looked at to continue to pick up the slack.
The New-Look Utah Jazz Center Rotation
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Walker Kessler being done for the season certainly changes things at the center position for the Utah Jazz. They have been using Kyle Filipowski as both a power forward and center over the last two years, with the early-part of the campaign seeing him at the four spot.
Jusuf Nurkić started the last two games, and even made the game-winning shot against the Boston Celtics the other night. He was looked at as a salary match when the team traded Collin Sexton and a future pick to Charlotte, but so far so good. The Bosnian Beast figures to hold the starting role for the near future.
Playing behind him has been a guy who many did not even expect to make the final roster for the Jazz. Journeyman and 2016 champion Kevin Love has provided decent minutes.He has grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out eight assists in 31 minutes over two appearances. He even threw a sweet outlet pass to Lauri Markkanen for the jam just last game.
The final option among current roster pieces is Oscar Tshiebwe. The unanimous 2022 AP College Basketball Player of the Year has had some big games in the G-League. Tshiebwe has posted 16.0 rebounds per night across two seasons in the G-League and if he gets a chance again with Utah, could provide value.
The New Utah Jazz Starting Center
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The center rotation without Kessler should be as follows in the interim. Nurkić starts the game. Love will slot in next. Filipowski should take any mop-up minutes. And then Tshiebwe finishes things out in either blowouts or on nights where any of the aforementioned guys cannot suit up.
One final note here on Filipowski. The second-year pro had seven games of 20+ points, and 15 contests of 10+ rebounds over the final few months. Let’s not forget he was the Summer League MVP.
As Kessler has surgery and goes into his rehab, the position will be up for grabs. We’ll see who winds up as the man in the middle as the year goes on.
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