CBS Analyst Asks the Question Lakers Fans Don’t Want to Hear About Walker Kessler

The Lakers pulled off a sign-and-trade for Walker Kessler that felt like a win. Pairing the big man with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves gave Los Angeles a real center after the team whiffed at the 2026 trade deadline. They also added Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, and Sandro Mamukelashvili in the aftermath of LeBron James leaving town. For a few hours, fans in Southern California were feeling pretty good about the direction.

Then the Sixers landed Jaylen Brown.

Philadelphia traded Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks to Boston for the 2024 NBA Finals MVP. And suddenly that Kessler trade looked a lot less exciting to some people.

CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn fired off a question on social media that probably made a few Lakers fans wince. He asked whether Los Angeles should have gone after Brown instead and figured out the center situation later.

“Should the Lakers have just offered their two picks and swaps for Jaylen Brown? The Celtics wouldn’t have needed to take back much money,” Quinn wrote. “Like, could they have just gotten Jaylen and then tried to flip Reaves for a center at the deadline?”

The assets the Lakers gave up for Kessler

Here’s where it stings a little. The Lakers sent out two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to get Kessler. That’s actually more draft capital than the Sixers gave up for Brown. Quinn pointed out that if Boston was willing to let Brown go for essentially nothing — ESPN’s Bobby Marks described the return as basically free — then maybe L.A. should have made a different phone call.

Of course, the Lakers would have needed to match salaries to bring Brown in. That would have meant sending out real players, not just picks. But the idea of a Doncic-Brown-Reaves core, with an eye toward adding a center down the road, has a certain appeal that a lineup built around Kessler and Sexton doesn’t quite match.

Fans online didn’t waste time debating it. Some argued that Kessler fills a clear need and that Brown’s contract would have handcuffed the franchise. Others pointed out that championship windows don’t stay open forever and that Brown is a proven winner at the highest level.

Neither side is wrong, exactly. But the timing of the two deals — Kessler first, Brown hours later — made for an awkward comparison the Lakers front office probably didn’t anticipate.