The Los Angeles Lakers have yet to see their prized offseason acquisition, big man Walker Kessler, in action during preseason due to a finger injury he sustained near the start of training camp. Following Lakers’ practice on Sunday, head coach JJ Redick acknowledged that Kessler was a full participant after not partaking in live action the previous day, but his potential status for Tuesday’s preseason game against the Golden State Warriors was still to be determined.

Following Lakers’ practice on Sunday, Walker Kessler admitted that he’s been itching to get back into game action amid the finger injury, as per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“I just jammed it a little bit, just precautionary stuff, especially since it‘s preseason. But it feels good. Fully went today in practice, it feels great,” Kessler told reporters. “I think it would be a little different if I played last season. But because I didn’t play last season, I wanna play really bad. I’m ready to play, but I trust the staff and I trust the trainers, the coaches, the front office.”

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Kessler missed all but five games of the 2025-26 season due to a shoulder injury. He entered the offseason as a restricted free agent and was dealt to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade deal that cost the Lakers quite a bit of draft capital. The No. 22 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, he had played his whole career to this point with the Jazz.

In the five games he appeared in last season, he averaged 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.8 blocked shots with splits of 70.3 percent shooting from the field, 75 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 70 percent shooting from the free-throw line.