SALT LAKE CITY, UT – OCTOBER 16: Walker Kessler #24 of the Utah Jazz reacts to an officials call during the first half of the preseason game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Delta Center on October 16, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Chris Gardner/ Getty Images)
Getty Images
The Utah Jazz failed to reach an agreement on an extension with fourth-year center Walker Kessler by the Oct. 20 deadline, but it wasn’t due to lack of interest on their side. Tony Jones of The Athletic reported in late September that the Jazz “highly value Kessler and see him as a cornerstone to the future.”
The holdup was about money—or, more specifically, maintaining his relatively minuscule free-agent cap hit.
“By not signing Kessler now, he would have a cap hold of $14.9 million next summer, which would give the Jazz enough space to keep Kessler’s hold and still do work in free agency,” Jones wrote. “Then, the Jazz and Kessler theoretically can come to an agreement. Because Utah holds Kessler’s Bird rights, the Jazz would be able to exceed the cap by signing him.
“If Utah extends Kessler now, his cap hold would be whatever that contract dictates, which could make the franchise less flexible from a money standpoint.”
In other words, the Jazz are hoping to pull off the same trick with Kessler that the Philadelphia 76ers did with Tyrese Maxey in 2024.
The Sixers Laid The Blueprint For Kessler
The Sixers faced a similar situation with Maxey in 2023 as the Jazz do with Kessler now.
Since Maxey was the No. 21 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, he was set to have a free-agent cap hold of only $13.0 million. His maximum salary as a free agent was $35.1 million. If the Sixers signed him to a max extension in 2023, his $35.1 million salary would have gone on their books right when the 2024-25 league year began. But if they didn’t extend him, he only counted as his $13.0 million cap hold heading into free agency. Once they spent the remainder of their cap space, they could then re-sign him to a max deal via his Bird rights even though they were already over the cap.
In other words, waiting to extend Maxey created an extra $22 million in cap space that the Sixers otherwise wouldn’t have had. That allowed them to carve out more than $60 million in cap space in total, most of which they used to sign All-Star forward Paul George in free agency. The early returns on that signing haven’t been great, but the strategy itself was bound to inspire imitators.
Sixers president Daryl Morey later credited Maxey for his patience.
“This offseason wouldn’t have been possible without him,” Morey told reporters. He was very clearly on his way to being what he has become—an All-Star, one of the great future stars of this league—and by being patient, he allowed us to put this offseason together, to really put us in this position to be one of the very few legitimate contenders in the league this year.”
How The Strategy Could Work For The Jazz
Now that the Jazz didn’t sign Kessler to an extension by the Oct. 20 deadline, they’re poised to have a ton of financial flexibility next offseason. Lauri Markkanen ($46.1 million in 2026-27) is the only major contract they have on their books.
Jusuf Nurkić ($19.4 million) and Georges Niang ($8.2 million) are both on expiring contracts, while the contracts for Kyle Anderson ($9.7 million in 2026-27), Svi Mykhailiuk ($3.9 million) and Kyle Filipowski ($3.0 million) are fully non-guaranteed after this season. The Jazz have team options on Taylor Hendricks ($7.8 million), Cody Williams ($6.0 million), Keyonte George ($6.6 million), Brice Sensabaugh ($4.9 million) and Isaiah Collier ($2.8 million) that they figure to pick up, but Ace Bailey ($9.5 million) and Walter Clayton Jr. ($5.2 million) are their only two players other than Markkanen on guaranteed contracts past this season for now.
If the Jazz do pick up their team options on Hendricks, Williams, George, Sensabaugh and Collier for 2026-27, they’d have $87.8 million on their books in total between those five, Markkanen, Bailey and Clayton. Add in Kessler’s $14.6 million cap hold, and they’d be at $98.5 million in total. The latest salary-cap projection for 2026-27 is $166 million.
Even if the Jazz win the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft, which would have a projected cap hit around $14.8 million, they’d be at only $117.3 million in total salary with Kessler’s cap hold factored in. That would leave them with nearly $50 million of cap space if they waived Anderson, Mykhailiuk and Filipowski. Even if they keep the latter two, they’d still have more than $40 million to spend in free agency.
The 2026 free-agent class is already thinning out thanks to Luka Dončić, De’Aaron Fox and Jaren Jackson Jr. all signing extensions. However, the Jazz historically haven’t been a major free-agent destination anyway. Unless they take major strides forward this year, they’d likely struggle to land a star free agent next summer.
Instead, they could turn their attention to the restricted-free-agent market. Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey, Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason and Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin were among the players who failed to reach extensions with their current teams, which means they’re set to become restricted free agents next offseason. Their teams will have the right to match any offer sheet that they sign in free agency, which often deters interest in them, but the Jazz could wait out the early wave of free agency before lobbing huge offer sheets their way.
If the Jazz were able to land Ivey, Eason and/or Mathurin, it could serve as rocket fuel to their ongoing rebuild. Once they spent their cap space, they could turn around and re-sign Kessler via his Bird rights.
Granted, that’s a tricky needle to thread. Kessler would presumably want to go into free agency with an idea of how much the Jazz were willing to offer him. If they couldn’t find a middle ground, he might not be on board waiting for them to spend the rest of their cap space. He’d likely try to find an offer sheet of his own.
If Kessler does sign an offer sheet and the Jazz decided to match it, his new salary would immediately go on their books. He’d have to wait until at least July 6 to do so, which would give the Jazz a few days to negotiate with other free agents, but their window to make big moves may be fairly tight.
Other teams are putting themselves in position to have significant cap space in 2026, too. The Jazz might not be the only ones bidding for restricted free agents. But they punted on a Kessler extension for now to increase their optionality next offseason and give themselves the best chance to land an impact free agent or a star via trade.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.
Follow Bryan on Bluesky.