This Lakers-Jazz trade could give L.A. the big man JJ Redick yearns for

The Los Angeles Lakers are 3-0 in the JJ Redick era with three wins over contending teams. It's hard not to be impressed. We should probably pump the breaks a little bit on all the excitement — this is still the honeymoon stage and we hardly ever learn much from the first week of an 82-game campaign — but the Lakers feel significantly more alive than they did a few months ago.

Anthony Davis has been the league MVP through a week, LeBron James is still LeBron James, and Los Angeles' depth feels a bit more stable than it did a year ago, despite multiple injuries to that second unit.

Redick has not been afraid of the soap box since arriving in LA and one of his biggest talking points has been improving the Lakers' rebounding. Los Angeles is trying to win the possession battle every night, which increases the emphasis on size and physicality in the frontcourt. Los Angeles could also use another rim protector to anchor the second unit when AD sits.

Rob Pelinka didn't do much to improve his roster this offseason, but the Lakers' early success under Redick could supply the necessary motivation to get a useful trade across the finish line. One potential target, per Lakers insider Jovan Buha, is Utah Jazz 7-footer Walker Kessler.

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This Lakers-Jazz trade would revamp Los Angeles' second unit defense

Kessler has been a hot commodity in trade rumors all summer. He was heavily connected to the New York Knicks before the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and it's not hard to understand why teams might be interested. He plateaued a bit in his sophomore campaign, but Kessler remains one of the best per-minute shot blockers in the NBA. He's a dominant presence in the paint, averaging 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in 23.3 minutes last season.

The early returns on Kessler this season are encouraging — 9.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks on 87.5 percent shooting in 25.0 minutes. That's a two-game sample size, so grain of salt and all, but the 23-year-old executes a valuable set of skills at an extremely high level. He won't reinvent the proverbial wheel, but Kessler sets monster screens, finishes with supreme efficiency at the rim, and defends the rim about as well as any center in the NBA.

Kessler would presumably get his share of minutes next to Anthony Davis, so the Lakers are investing in more than 10-15 minutes per game. Twin towers lineups with AD have a complicated history, but the combined defensive ground coverage of Kessler and Davis would give the Lakers a serious edge in certain matchups. There's a world in which Kessler elevates to the level of full-time starter before long.

It will take at least one of the Lakers' tradable first-round picks to get this deal across the finish line, unless Los Angeles is comfortable floating names like Dalton Knecht. Christian Wood's expiring salary is an almost perfect match, while Utah gets a valuable 2029 first (and two second-round picks) to grease the wheels on a trade. I'm not sure this is even enough, but as a baseline, it should get Utah on the phone.

Kessler's continuous presence in trade rumors is somewhat difficult to understand — he should be a building block for this Jazz team — but generally, it's smart to pay attention to smoke in the NBA rumor mill. If Kessler is being tossed around as a popular trade target, it's because teams believe Utah will part with him for the right price.

The Lakers get much better with this trade. The only question is, will another team outbid Los Angeles?