Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers and their millions of fans should absolutely be excited about landing Walker Kessler, no matter how many more times the critics say, “All that for Walker Kessler?!”
The Lakers’ concern is not how much they had to spend to land Kessler in a sign-and-trade; what should worry them is that they have no dependable big man to back up their 25-year-old franchise cornerstone. As The Athletic’s Dan Woike pointed out, the newly-acquired Kevon Looney is not going to be enough.
“Looney played only 21 games last season with the New Orleans Pelicans, in his first year outside of Golden State,” Woike wrote. “He played 314 total regular-season games in the four prior seasons — a remarkable run of durability, with only Jonas Valanciunas appearing in more games at center. For Looney, who entered the NBA with a hip injury, the games and minutes crashing the glass and setting bruising screens for the Warriors had to have some cumulative impact, limiting his mobility and, last season, his availability.”
Looney could be a wonderful veteran leader for the Lakers, someone who brings that championship mettle and some of that know how. He probably can’t, however, play 30 minutes if Kessler gets banged up.
The Lakers Have to Make a Move at Center
It is well understood that the Lakers almost certainly cannot afford to enter the 2026-27 season without adding a big man to the roster. That has led the rumor mill to spit out player after player the Lakers could target, and one of them is Milwaukee Bucks center Jericho Sims, who has reportedly been on the Lakers’ radar, according to Woike.
And the good news is that Sims is someone the Lakers should have no problem acquiring, according to analyst Trevor Lane.
“I wouldn’t think Jericho Sims would be all that difficult to acquire, especially since the Bucks already have other center options,” Lane said in a video on the Lakers Nation YouTube channel. They’ve got Myles Turner, they’ve got Kel’el Ware and they’ve got players slotted ahead of them. I would think the third-string big for the Bucks on a $2.8 million salary shouldn’t cost a fortune to go get, but it depends what do the Bucks want.”
Sims, 27, averaged 5.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 78 percent from the floor in 67 appearances for the Bucks last season. Sims is an athletic big man who could excel as a lob-theat alongside Luka Doncic. But outside of that, as Lane noted, that is about it.
But L.A. doesn’t exactly need a superstar to play behind Kessler, so Sims could be a quality low-cost option. That’s if the Bucks are willing to move him for no more than one second round pick or even in a player-for-player swap.
Options Seem Limited, Time Even More So
Sims is one of three big men the Lakers had on their radar, according to a report by Woike in late July. It is unclear if the Lakers attempted to acquire Sims or plan to trade for him.
“Sims fits the run-and-jump archetype that you’d love to put around Doncic because he’s big and a tremendous athlete,” Woike wrote. “He’s currently slated as the Bucks’ No. 3 center behind Myles Turner and Kel’el Ware. Scouts have defensive concerns away from the basket, and Sims has never really been able to produce consistently. But he’s a dunker and rebounder whom the Lakers could use second-round draft capital to try and pry loose.”
Sims could be a quality security blanket option for the Lakers. Especially if no better deal comes within reach, Sims wouldn’t be a half-bad option to settle on.
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