Walker Kessler

We're going to let LeBron go.

Well, now we can afford a rim protector, Walker Kessler.

We can get like catch and shoot bigs and 3D guys.

It's not that hard.

Austin's a number two.

Because they don't have LeBron's salary, they can afford Walker Kessler and multiple wing defenders who can catch and shoot.

LeBron's salary would have gotten in the way of the rebuild.

They have a legitimate rim runner, rim protector, wing defenders.

And in the game that they played against the Utah Jazz, the one solid to good team of the three that they've played, they were out rebounded 52 to 31.

And it feels like a potential, one of many potential issues that may emerge in part because of the lack of size or just quality options thus far behind Walker Kessler, specifically at center.

Like Mamou has played well.

And he can be a backup center, but he is not a classic defensive center.

It becomes very limiting.

Really quickly, in a game, for example,

like what happened against Utah where Walker Kessler, who acknowledged after the game on Sunday that This was highly emotional for him coming back to Utah.

It's the first time he's ever played against the Jazz, previously the only team he had ever played for.

All right, welcome everybody to the Lakers Legacy Podcast, where it's only been three games.

But in those three games, Walker Kessler became the first player since Shaq to have 10 dunks in a game.

Luka dropped 52 points and became the fastest player in Lakers franchise history to reach 3,000 points.

And Kevon Looney is fast becoming the first player to be DNPR, DNP Retired.

It's hard to sort of assess because of And in this stage, too, we're like, these three teams, they look like quote-unquote bad teams, but by midseason, we're like, oh, wait, actually, they're not too bad, you know? So how do we, you know, assess things? We're going to try and do that as best as we can today.

We'll look at some rankings of where the team... sort of slots in with the rest of the league.

But first, Raj, really quickly, obviously, last night, 52 points by Luka, Walker Kessler's homecoming.

I know you had personal obligations.

He's tough.

Another honorable mention, I have Walker Kessler as an honorable mention for me, an eval where I got, obviously, I think this could be argued it's my worst evaluation of all time in some ways, if you go by pure numerical rankings, but That's not really what it was ever about.

I think this was an era when I personally was too invested in what other people thought of a player.

And all anyone talked about is, oh, Walker Kessler is this elite defender.

He's so good on defense.

He just clears away.

Number three is Austin Reeves.

I mean, the Luka-Austin-Reeds comp, I mean, this is the whole idea of the Lakers team is you bring in Walker Kessler for rebounding and defense and a rolling big man for Luka, and then you have Luka and Austin do everything and support players, knock down, catch and shoot threes, and play defense.

What was your reaction to this complete Luka masterclass? It was him hitting the step back.

He hit the Dirk one-legged mid-range shots.

And again, the ace agenda is riding high after the first three games.

Bailey Bucks are going for a lot on the offshore markets.

Walker Kessler returned with the Lakers, didn't have a standout game.

He was very quiet in this one.

So if you're the Lakers, if you win that game against Portland...

Does Luka play? Does Austin play? Does Walker Kessler play? I don't know.

All three of them are going to want to play.

Sure.

Zaire Williams, being able to play defense and be that other 3 and D player.

Walker Kessler, who has been, I think, the perfect centerpiece for the Lakers.

Didn't have a good scoring game yesterday, but on this past Friday when they played the Clippers, he had like six blocks, five blocks or something like that.

He's been playing out of this world and out of his mind.

And it's like, does this fit together? Like the guys we had in here from the Jazz last week, and they were – I mean, they straight up admit it.

They did not expect to lose Walker Kessler.

And it's like when they lost him, it's like, oh, crap.

What are we going to do now? We