Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Wed, July 1, the Los Angeles Lakers made a big move in acquiring a center in a high-stakes trade along with signing a few other key players on the NBA free agent market. The Lakers’ front office traded with the Utah Jazz for their young center Walker Kessler, who has been a rumored big man for the Purple & Gold to land. As a young 24 year-old center, Kessler was a key big man for a rebuilding Utah squad. In exchange for Kessler, the Lakers sent unprotected first round picks in the years of 2031 and 2033 along with first-round pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 to Utah. Kessler is a good rebounding center, with him averaging a double-double last season with 14.4 points and 10.8 rebounds over just five games played due to various injuries. Kessler has only appeared in 125 games in his NBA career and has averaged 9.5 points and 9.3 rebounds along with two and a half blocks. Playing only four seasons with the Jazz after being drafted out of Auburn, Kessler can hopefully remain healthy and complement the ball handling skills of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, who could use a big man to pass the ball to in assisting on alley-oop dunks. Kessler will be paired with DeAndre Ayton, who decided to opt in to his player option in his contract, and hopefully they can serve as a good big-man duo for the Lakers, who struggled with giving up a lot of offensive rebounds and second-chance points last season.

Along with acquiring Kessler, the Lakers also signed a trio of free agent guards and forwards available on the open market. They signed Sandro Mamuskelashvilli, who might end up with having the longest surname on a jersey in the history of the Purple & Gold. As a solid forward from the Toronto Raptors, Sandro played in eighty games in the regular season last year and averaged 11 points per game along with shooting over 52 percent from the floor and nearly 39 percent from three-point land. Mamukelashvilli will replace Luke Kennard, who decided to sign a two-year deal with the Phoenix Suns, as a valuable three-point shooter on the roster. Another solid three-point shooter acquired by Los Angeles is Quentin Grimes, who signed a four-year deal worth around $60 million. On the Philadelphia 76ers this past season, Grimes tallied 13 points per game and shot 45 percent from the floor. Grimes can serve as a solid bench player and he has played with a few other teams in his career, including the Dallas Mavericks whom he was traded off to Philly around the same time that Luka was traded to L.A. One last key player that the front office led by Rob Pelinka signed is Collin Sexton, who is a nine-year veteran that started his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018-19 season. Sexton played four years in Cleveland and then played three seasons with the Jazz after being shipped to Utah in the Donovan Mitchell trade. This past season, Sexton played on the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls for whom he averaged 15.4 points for and shot over 40 percent from three-point land. Sexton will serve as a valuable backup ballhandler behind Reaves and Doncic and he is also in a group that includes Cameron Carr, who the Lakers acquired in an NBA draft trade with the New York Knicks last Tuesday night. Carr played his last college season at Baylor and he might be a benchwarmer, but could also serve as one of the most valuable guards drafted by the Lakers in the past ten years.

So, with some key players signed and retained along with some who decided to go off elsewhere(Kennard and Marcus Smart along with LeBron James), the Lakers are now mostly set with their roster for the 2026-27 season. Kessler’s signing might serve to be the most important, but this free agent class is one that the front office could be very satisfied in acquiring. Pelinka told Luka Doncic that the free agency class of 2026 would be where the front office would acquire key players to surround around him to make the team a true championship contender. With the extension of Reaves and the acquiring of these four players after LeBron informed the team that he wouldn’t be coming back, the Lakers are set to see if this roster is worthy of being a team that can help deliver the 18th championship banner in franchise history. Let’s see if all of that turns out to be legit.