Mar 7, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) goes in for a layup over Toronto Raptors guard AJ Lawson (0) in the second half at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Walker Kessler's Honest Statement on Third Season With Jazz

Originally posted on Utah Jazz on SI | By Jared Koch | Last updated Apr 1, 2025 11:00 AM ET

The Utah Jazz have had to traverse their fair share of trials and tribulations across the 2024-25 regular season.

Yet, through the struggles over the recent months, the Jazz have also seen some major growth from a few of their notable young players– one of those being big man Walker Kessler, who has continued to show major progression throughout his third year pro.

The Jazz big man has taken note of the strides forward himself as well. During an interview with KSL Sports, Kessler sounded off on how he's felt his third season in Utah has transpired.

"It's been a very rewarding year in a lot of ways," Kessler said. "I put in a lot of work this past offseason, so to see the timing of it all come to fruition, it's been great. It's been really good... A lot of hours in the gym, a lot of hours in the weight room. A lot of hours off the court working on my body. I gained somewhere from 15 to 20 pounds of muscle, which really helped this year. Just positioning-wise, grabbing rebounds, stuff like that... It's definitely been beneficial just seeing all of the stuff happen how it has."

Kessler's been a consistent bright spot of the Jazz's endeavors across their 2024-25 campaign. Through his 57 games suiting up, he's averaged 11.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks –– all career highs within his short time in the league. It's come as a result of a ton of diligent, hard work across the past year plus, and the effort is clearly paying off for the 23-year-old.

During his second year, Kessler did see some turbulence in his development, coming as a product of various injuries across the year, inconsistencies on both ends of the floor, and some confidence questions to come into play as well.

However, Kessler's since used those tests to help lead him to a bounce back in a major way for year three, now emerging as not only one of the best young pieces for the Jazz, but one of the better players on the roster entirely.

It's hard to expect Kessler's growth to stop here, either. Especially as the Jazz big man has begun to shoot a higher rate of three pointers in recent weeks to try and expand his range, he'll likely to continue to see steps forward on both sides of the ball as he keeps navigating the early parts of his NBA career– which could mean big things for the future of this Utah rebuild.

After being in trade discussions and rumors leading up to this season, don't expect the Jazz big man to be going anywhere after a fiery year-three campaign, potentially with more to come soon on the horizon.

This article first appeared on Utah Jazz on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: