Walker

Kessler

Utah was at full strength against Minnesota on Friday, since they have the Timberwolves’ first round pick in the draft this summer. However, they only hold a half game lead over New Orleans for the third-best lottery odds, so it will be a skeleton crew out on the floor for the Jazz. Kyle Filipowski and KJ Martin should start down low in place of Kessler and Collins.

Kessler was one point away from a double-double Friday. In a game with the interesting subplot of the Jazz controlling Minnesota’s first-round pick this year, the 23-year-old had a game-winning dunk with nine seconds left. Kessler clearly has fantasy value, but his availability is in question down the stretch of the season with the Jazz resting key players at times.

Kessler nearly made history on Wednesday, finishing one rebound shy of a 25/15/5 line on 100 percent shooting. Only one player in NBA history has achieved that feat: Wilt Chamberlain, and he did it on six occasions during his illustrious career. That says a lot when you can be in the same sentence as Wilt, as Kessler nearly was. As for his fantasy value for the rest of the season, that concerns fantasy managers. And it isn’t the production. It’s the availability. The Jazz have already started resting key players, including Kessler, and there’s no reason why they’d stop doing that now, especially with the loaded 2025 draft class. For that reason, Wednesday’s performance may be a good time to “sell high” on Kessler.

Clarkson and Kessler return to the Jazz lineup, with the former returning from a two-game absence. Their returns mean Johnny Juzang and Kyle Filipowski will come off the bench, but fantasy managers who have the latter rostered should hold onto him. Due to the unpredictable nature of Utah’s lineups, Filipowski will play plenty as the season winds down.

Initially ruled out on Tuesday, Kessler has been upgraded to available and should see his typical workload against Sacramento. He’ll return following a one-game absence.

Markkanen and Kessler will remain out after missing Monday’s loss to the Trail Blazers. The Jazz started KJ Martin and Kyle Filipowski, and those two will likely get another opportunity to fill those roles against the Kings. The “silly season” is in full swing in Salt Lake City.

Utah’s frontcourt will be sorely shorthanded, leaving Kyle Filipowski, Micah Potter and Cody Williams to absorb the vacated playing time. Filipowski is the most appealing streamer of the group, but it’s a pretty low bar.

John Collins has already been ruled out, and if Kessler or Markkanen are sidelined, Utah’s frontcourt would be mightily shorthanded. Players like Cody Williams, Kyle Filipowski and Micah Potter could help to pick up the slack, though none of the trio would be a particularly attractive streaming option.

The Jazz wanted to dominate the boards on Saturday, and they did so, thanks mainly to Kessler. Eight of his 17 rebounds were of the offensive variety, and he tossed in 11 points, three assists and two blocked shots for good measure. Kessler grabbed 19 rebounds in Friday’s loss to the Thunder and had at least 12 in seven of his last eight appearances. Due to the rebounding and shot blocking, he has provided top-40 value in eight- and nine-cat formats over the past three weeks.

Kessler didn’t do much scoring in Friday’s loss, but he controlled the glass. His 19 rebounds were the second-most that he has had in a game this season. He had 22 in a loss to the Suns just two weeks before this game. Kessler shouldn’t be this limited offensively often, but managers aren’t relying on him to be a dominant scorer. Kessler hasn’t played both legs of a back-to-back since early January, so managers should keep an eye on the injury report ahead of Saturday’s game against the Rockets.