NBA free agents 2026 opened at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and the Los Angeles Lakers moved fast enough to land Walker Kessler in a sign-and-trade. The agreement puts a $130 million, four-year deal in motion and adds another center to a roster already being reshaped around its frontcourt.
Walker Kessler For Two Firsts
The Lakers agreed to send two first-round picks to the Utah Jazz for Kessler, including their 2031 first-rounder and 2033 first-rounder, plus first-round pick swaps in 2028 and 2030. That is the price of bringing in a 7-footer who had been in restricted free agency and now looks set to anchor the middle in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles did not stop there. It also signed Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes as the opening hours of free agency produced a burst of roster work that changed the shape of the rotation before the market had settled.
Mitchell Robinson Joins Boston Celtics
Across the league, the Boston Celtics are signing Mitchell Robinson, another center move that pushed the early market toward the front line. Robinson recently won a title with the New York Knicks, and the Celtics also agreed to a one-year deal with Mike Conley.
That pairing matters because the Celtics and Lakers were both adding size while the Lakers were reportedly giving out contracts for slightly more than their available cap space. The math around multiple signings becomes tighter when a team is working near its cap limit, which is why trade structure and salary matching sit at the center of the Kessler deal.
The Lakers' move also fits the position balance they have been chasing since Anthony Davis said in January of 2025 that he preferred to play power forward. As a Laker, Davis consistently referenced his preference to play power forward, and the arrival of Kessler gives Los Angeles another way to keep the frontcourt aligned around Davis while building a deeper rotation.
For Los Angeles, the next step is process, not celebration: the sign-and-trade still has to clear the mechanics that turn an agreement into a completed transaction, and the team has already used premium draft capital to get there. NBA free agency 2026 is barely underway, but the Lakers have already paid for a major frontcourt reset.
