The Los Angeles Lakers have completely remade their center rotation from last season. Starter Deandre Ayton is gone via a trade to the Washington Wizards and backup Jaxson Hayes joined the Utah Jazz in free agency on a deal the Lakers couldn’t afford. Meanwhile, the Lakers made one of the biggest splashes of the summer by landing Walker Kessler, and agreed to terms on a minimum contract with Kevon Looney to be his backup.
Kessler and Looney are, on paper, a strong center tandem. They are drastically better rim protectors and rebounders than last year’s counterparts. However, there are some availability concerns. The two played a combined 26 games last season due to injury, which is reportedly leading the Lakers to look elsewhere to add depth, via Dan Woike of The Athletic:
Between Looney’s 21 games and the five Kessler played last season, the Lakers are, according to team and league sources, hunting for reinforcement at the center position.
The Lakers also added Sandro Mamukelshvili this offseason, who projects to figure into the center rotation as well when they go small.
Kessler’s five games was due to a combination of taking care of a long-term shoulder injury while playing for a franchise that wasn’t interested in winning games. That makes it more likely that his lack of availability was a fluke and not a pattern. Looney also had the first injury-laden season of his career after being extremely available for the Golden State Warriors.
Regardless, it is still good for the Lakers to want to have insurance at the center position, ideally getting someone with a different skillset from Kessler and Looney. Unfortunately, someone like Hayes would have been the perfect complement for those two players.
Names have not yet surfaced as to who the Lakers are looking for, but they assuredly will in the next month or so before training camp starts to ramp up.
Lakers’ Walker Kessler explains why he chose No. 14
As part of his acquisition by the Lakers, Kessler had to choose a new jersey number. He wore 24 for the Jazz in all four of his NBA seasons, but that number is obviously taken by Kobe Bryant in the rafters. He opted to go with No. 14 for a very simple reason.
“I chose 14 because it was my USA number at the World Cup,” Kessler said during a ‘Get to Know’ segment on Lakers YouTube. “For me to see my name on a Lakers jersey is like a dream. It’s surreal. So I’m very grateful and very thankful to be here.”
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