DETROIT — Taylor Hendricks has an idea of what Walker Kessler is going through.
It’s been just over a year since Hendricks heard the heart-dropping news that he would be out for just about an entire season — the same news that hit Walker Kessler this week.
“I know all the thoughts that come with the doctor telling you that it’s over for the season,” Hendricks said. “So I definitely feel for him — feel for him a lot.”
The Jazz center will have surgery on Thursday on a torn labrum in his left shoulder, hoping to fix an issue that first cropped up early in the year. On Jan. 27, Kessler missed a game for a “left shoulder contusion.”
That shoulder has kept him periodically popping up on injury reports ever since.
Utah is hopeful the surgery will solve the issue for good — and maybe even improve his range of motion.
That’s good news in the long run. But in the present, it’s tough to not feel the weight of the news.
“I’m really disappointed,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “He’s a really good young player; he’s worked really hard. I feel bad for Walker, obviously, first and foremost. It’s not what he expected, it’s not what we expected, but this is in the best interest for him and his health moving forward.”
Kessler’s teammates know a few things about having to deal with that disappointment.
“For me, it was making sure I was around the right type of energy,” said Brice Sensabaugh, who has had multiple knee surgeries. “Like, my parents did that for me, getting sunlight, making sure I was around my team, stuff like that, hearing the jokes. Smiling and laughing is good for your heart. So, yeah, for me, that’s mainly what it was just being around positive people.”
Kessler is expected to make a full recovery, but now the Jazz face nearly an entire season without their defensive anchor. Utah planned schemes and sets around Kessler’s ability at the rim — on both sides of the ball.
So, what now?
“We have to do what we can with who we have,” Hardy said.
And that means there will be some adjustments.
“We have to tailor what we do to the people that are in the locker room,” Hardy said. “There are certain things that we’ve done in the past and to start this year that try to accentuate some of Walker’s strengths, and now we have to adjust and try to accentuate the strengths of the people that are in the locker room now.”
Expect the Jazz to go a little smaller at times, maybe even using Hendricks or Kyle Filipowski at center. Since Kessler’s absence, Utah has also inserted Kevin Love into the rotation.
And don’t be surprised to see Oscar Tshiebwe called up from the Salt Lake City Stars. Last season, Tshiebwe was named All-NBA G League first team, and appeared in 14 games with the Jazz.
“As of now, we’re just talking about guarding the ball better and not having to rely on that helpside defense as much,” Markkanen said. “We’ve got to all help rebound. Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic) did a great job today; I can help more. There are a lot of things that Walker does that nobody can just replace just like that. Everybody takes a little bit more responsibility on both ends.”
In short, it’s a big void to fill.
“No other way around, it sucks for him,” Markkanen said. “He wants to be out there. He wants to help the team. But it obviously sucks to not have him out there helping us. … But trying to take it as a learning thing for us to guard the ball better. But, yeah, no other way around it — it sucks.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
