Exclusive : Utah Jazz Center Walker Kessler Sits Down With KSL Sports Live
Thanks to UCCU we’re excited to welcome Walker Kesler into the KSL Studios Walker thanks for joining us this is fun happy to be here um you know all about life elevated right literally and figuratively we you’ve achieved greatness at a high level and we want to
Give fans a chance to learn how you’ve done it it starts with where you grew up in Georgia yeah it starts with your family how did your upbringing and your family help you achieve great so I grew up in a little town south of Atlanta
Called Nuna Georgia um I grew up with an older brother older sister I was the baby so always got picked on at a young age but you know I think that it made me more competitive in a way and my family in general is you know extremely competitive um my dad played college
Ball Georgia um played overseas my brother played college ball as well um my sister played beach volleyball so you know we’ve always were competing whether it was you know basketball or Shoots and Ladders um didn’t matter and so I think because of that you know I’m where I am
Today at what point did becoming an NBA player become the goal and what sacrifices did you have to make to achieve that I think around Middle School is when I had a serious conversation you know like I want to do this um obviously there was times where I’m like H you
Know maybe maybe not but um I think for me the the biggest sacrifice that I made was just you know choosing how to spend your time for me that was you know being in the gym as much as possible um doing everything I can to be great in that
Regard but also you know enjoying you know life as a kid cuz you don’t want to be burned out as well um and that’s the concern but continuing to keep working life Elevate is the Utah State slogan it’s part of your campaign with UCCU elevated checking and when you’re
7t tall you have no choice but to live life elevated you got du through some door with frames and stuff like that a perfect match how much are you enjoying life elevated in Utah and if you now in your second year had a chance to really
Enjoy it yeah I love it the first week I couldn’t breathe but you know I think um you know it’s been great uh I love the mountains are unbelievable you know the people are super friendly um you know the the altitude definitely is a big Advantage just being you know part of
Part of the Jazz you know I feel like everyone comes here and I’m automatically just like you can’t breathe so being able to play here in front of people it’s just it’s a lot of fun uh your partnership with UCCU has led you to have an opportunity
To star in some commercials do a little acting in fact we’ve got one right now can we pull that up right now and play that not in this break room yeah yeah ucu’s elevated checking comes with tools that can help you block threats and protect your family online just like Walker Kesler protects
The Rim you just can’t help it can you you got to block everything that comes your way don’t go to a junior Jazz game that could get ugly exactly but uh you had a chance to do some acting there and I was talking to everybody with UCCU they said
You’re a natural how much fun do you have just cutting it loose and and having fun it was a blast um you know fun fact about me seventh grade I did theater really and I won the Theater award at the end of the year I I played
Santa Claus as a monologue you played Santa Claus I did true story true story classically trained actor Walker ker you’re a natural great that was my first career you know that’s what I wanted to be but you know basketball works too so when basketball isn’t going to last
Forever right yeah do you want to do some acting when you’re done you know who knows you know we’ll see we’ll see what happens all right now on the court how has life been in the NBA been different year one to year two obviously everyone knows who you are now in the
League they adjust to the way you play how have you adjusted yeah you know it’s a lot different um I think especially in the first year like like you said you know going into games people don’t really know you know who you are they don’t necessarily respect you just
Because you haven’t been in a situation before um so having going into second year people knowing who you are people having a scout for you know definitely makes it more difficult but I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned is to stay the course and keep you know
Regardless of the outcome just keep moving forward keep trying um and you know even though there’s failures try to take those failures and learn from them and you know turn into success last year Allstar Weekend was special here in Utah you got to be a part of that you’re
Going to get to do it again this time in Indie as a part of the Rising Stars game how excited are you for another opportunity to go there and you get to go with a teammate as well yeah exactly you know me me and key um you know very
Excited you know excited for him to experience it you know kind of show him the ropes a little bit you know we’ll see the rising stars game is really competitive so but um you know uh very excited um you know very excited very excited for the opportunity to be
Recognized and to be part of you know that weekend and to see some of the best basketball players you know in the NBA you know you’ve done some reporting on the side when you’ve gone to some of these events you got to ask y question
To say I’m a man of all trades but I have is there anything you can’t do uh I can’t play soccer very well I’m not very coordinated with my feet um so that is that is one thing so we found one thing but you’re so great that’s
About it though you were great I mean you asked joic great questions last year I mean were you going to see more of that at Allstar Weekend maybe who knows um you know can’t can’t reveal all the surprises but um you know excited for whatever brings can’t wait for it all
Right how would you describe the Utah Jazz season so far you know I think it definitely started out a little little tougher than last year’s season um I think that adding a lot of different pieces you know it takes time for guys and things to mesh but I feel
Like you know playing a 10man style we’ve all meshed very well and we all get along great and we have great chemistry and I think we’re really tough to play against um you know I think that it’s tough to scout against all these guys when we have so much depth I mean
Even looking at last night you know we had I think four guys that close the game that aren’t starters you know it just depends on depends on the night yeah and I think because of that you know you never know who’s going to bring it but regardless of who brings it
Everyone on the bench is always cheering for everybody and it just makes it a lot of fun to play how has will helped with that because one of the things that stands out to me about Will Hardy is we’ve seen the comments he makes you know the Masterpiece of you know what
After the one game the Dallas game but there’s also this willingness to admit or to be flexible or to say I need to learn or do better like with he did with Colin ston how much do you guys appreciate that with him yeah you know I
Think that it takes a lot of humility for a coach to admit you know that he has to do better yeah and I think that because of that that’s where like part of his greatness is you know as players we respect someone who admits you know
When they’re wrong or when they can work on stuff and because of that we look at that and we want to be like that you know we want to take the blame for stuff that we’re at fault for um and I think when you have guys like that that aren’t
All pointing the finger you know it makes it a lot more fun to play for and it just makes guys just you know be that much stronger lesson for all of us how important humility is in everyday life last thing I want to ask you what’s your
Favorite thing about Utah what have you really had a chance to to really enjoy and discover now that you’ve been here for a couple years that’s tough I mean it sounds it sounds naive or you know silly or Hallmark or whatever but I I think waking up every morning
To those mountains and sitting out I live I live in a um a condo on the on the 204 so I have a pretty good view of the mountains and in the morning and when there’s a golden hour and the sun sets and the skies are clear it’s a you
Can’t beat it so for me that’s that’s the best thing and the people and fans of course of course yes want to throw that out there and the media as well and the media exactly
Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz sat down with Jeremiah Jensen to talk about this Jazz season and so much more.
