When news broke Tuesday that LeBron James was going to leave the Los Angeles Lakers, their title odds got as high as +4500 due to the Hall of Fame-sized hole in the lineup and may have been the worst big-man rotation in the league. L.A. filled that gap in a big way Wednesday by agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal with the Utah Jazz for vastly underrated 7-footer Walker Kessler, and that improved the Lakers to +3000 to win it all at BetMGM.
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Kessler is exactly what the Lakers need in the middle after having to rely on bigs such as Deandre Ayton and Jaxon Hayes last season; neither is close to the rim protector that the new guy is. Kessler, a 2022 first-round pick, is the definition of a low-post pivot. He averaged 14.4 points on 70.3% shooting from the field along with 10.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks last season but was limited to five games after undergoing season-ending surgery.
When he played 58 games the season before, Kessler averaged 11.1 points and 12.2 rebounds — including an NBA-leading 4.6 offensive rebounds — to go along with 2.4 blocks per outing. Only reigning Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama (3.5) has averaged more blocks per game than Kessler (2.4) since his NBA debut.
Kessler isn’t perfect as he can’t hit 3-pointers much yet and is shooting a career 54.5% from the free-throw line – although both his 3-point and free-throw shooting were better in that limited time this past season. Kessler at least gives the Lakers someone to help deal with all the size Western Conference favorites Oklahoma City and San Antonio have. Is the Lakers’ Big 3 of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Kessler enough to win the West, though? Almost certainly not.
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I’m frankly the surprised the rising Jazz are giving him up as Kessler is a restricted free agent, so they could have matched any deal. Kessler last month did turn down a five-year, $140 million deal so maybe he just didn’t want to be in Salt Lake City and reportedly had his eyes on L.A. as many young players do. The Lakers gave up unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030 to get him.
If Doncic ever goes down with a serious injury, any of those picks could be mega-valuable for Utah. The Lakers entered the offseason with five first-round trade assets in the near future and gave up four of them for Kessler. A 2032 first-round pick swap is the only one of those five left.
But Los Angeles had been looking for a quality big ever since it sent Anthony Davis to Dallas for Doncic in February 2025. This move now takes Los Angeles out of the running for Detroit All-Star center Jalen Duren, also a restricted free agent who visited with the club. The Pistons have stated they would match any offer for Duren. L.A. today also signed Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton and another big in Sandro Mamukelashvili to help fill out the roster. Solid pieces all but didn’t move the betting needle.
Incidentally, the Lakers are now the same +3000 price at BetMGM to win the 2027 NBA Finals as the Golden State Warriors, who are presumed to be LeBron’s next team. Golden State has moved from +6600 to that current number thanks to taking 45% of all bets to win it all since Monday, the most of any team in the NBA.
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The various sportsbooks have released early win totals on the Timberwolves (acquired LaMelo Ball), Heat (Giannis Antetokounmpo) and Raptors (Kawhi Leonard) but no others yet. They’re likely waiting on LeBron’s official decision.
