Walker Kessler vs. Donovan Clingan: The West's Center Rankings Are a Lakers Problem
The Lakers are ten days away from Media Day, per marcstein.substack.com, and that leaves just enough time for one more offseason exercise: ranking the best centers in the Western Conference.
It is an annual tradition from the source, and one that has become more than a fun debate. With two perennial MVP candidates anchoring the middle for West contenders, the list doubles as a team-building thought experiment.
This year, it carries much more weight for the Lakers. The source states the franchise bet its future on Walker Kessler, and for that bet to truly work, Kessler will almost have to crack the top five on this list relatively soon.
The exact ranking positions are not confirmed in the source material, but the stakes are clear. Kessler needs to prove he can become the crucial piece in the middle of the Lakers’ three-man core and a building block of a title-contending team.
Last year’s Deandre Ayton experiment was a stopgap, according to the source, and everyone knew it. The ending, a complete no-show in the second round, was predictable. Ayton still delivered a solid regular season and an impressive late showing against Alperen Sengun in the first round, but the bar was always lower.
Kessler’s stakes are higher. The Lakers did not acquire him as a rental or a hope. They made him the future.
That is why this ranking matters more than the numbers. It is a measuring stick for whether the Lakers' bet on Kessler was a foundation or a gamble.
THE KESSLER-CLINGAN COMPARISON
The ranking exercise turned into a week-long Walker Kessler vs. Donovan Clingan comparison, per marcstein.substack.com. The source says that meant crunching data, watching their games, and talking to NBA people the author trusts who have followed both players more closely.
The specific data or game footage used in that comparison is not confirmed in the source. What is clear is the pull of the exercise.
The comparison occupied far more space in the author's brain than it probably should, according to the source. The author admits as much, then notes the timing: mid-September, after more than five months without Lakers basketball, these things happen.
For the Lakers, the debate is not academic. The comparison is central to evaluating Kessler's potential as a top-five West center, the threshold the franchise needs him to clear. Clingan represents the alternative path — the young, high-upside big the Lakers could have targeted — and the contrast sharpens the stakes of the bet they made instead.
The thought exercise started with a simple list. It ended with the Lakers' future reduced to two names.
LAST YEAR'S LESSON
Last year’s exercise started with Deandre Ayton, and the source ranked him seventh among West centers while acknowledging he could climb toward the top five or fall out of the top 15.
Ayton delivered a solid regular season and an impressive late showing against Alperen Sengun in the first round, per the source. The ending, however, was a complete no-show in the second round against a team demanding fast processing and an elite motor. The specific team that eliminated the Lakers in the second round is not named in the source.
The source considers last year’s ranking and assessment to have aged fairly well. The range was wide, but the outcome landed inside it.
That is the lesson for this year’s exercise. Ayton was a stopgap, and everyone knew it. The Lakers’ bet on Walker Kessler carries far more weight, which is why the ranking exercise matters more now than it did last summer.
WHY KESSLER MUST CLIMB
The Lakers bet their future on Walker Kessler, according to marcstein.substack.com. That is the blunt framing the source applies, and it is why this ranking means more than last year’s did.
Ayton was a stopgap, and everyone knew it. The stakes are higher with Kessler. For the Lakers’ bet to truly pay off, Kessler will almost have to crack the top five on this list relatively soon, per the source.
Kessler needs to prove he can become the crucial piece in the middle of the Lakers’ three-man core, the source writes. He must be a building block of a title-contending team. The identity of the other two members of that three-man core is not specified in the source, and the exact composition of that group has not been confirmed.
The implication is clear: a top-five ranking is not a vanity metric. It is the threshold for whether Kessler can anchor a championship operation in the West, where two MVP candidates dominate the middle for contenders.
The comparison to Ayton is deliberate. Ayton was a rental with a known ceiling, and the ranking reflected that. Kessler is the future, which makes the assessment heavier. The source does not name the team that eliminated the Lakers in the second round, but the warning from that series is baked into this exercise.
For the bet to work, Kessler must climb. That is the standard the Lakers set when they made him their centerpiece.
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
The full 2026–27 West centers rankings are promised in the source's breakdown highlights, which also tease tier breakdowns: "God/MVP-level," "All-Star/All-Defense," and "Proven starter on a contender." The actual full list is not included in the source material, so the precise order remains unconfirmed.
What is confirmed is timing. Lakers Media Day is ten days away, per marcstein.substack.com, and the source expects the ranking exercise to become an annual offseason tradition. That means Kessler's placement this year is the first installment of what could be a recurring benchmark.
The Kessler vs. Clingan comparison will likely be resolved as the season unfolds. The source spent a week crunching data, watching games, and talking to NBA people about the two centers, but mid-September analysis only goes so far. Real games will settle what projections cannot.
For the Lakers, the next ten days are the immediate checkpoint. Media Day arrives before the rankings get tested on the floor, and the source's promise of a full list — with tiers intact — hangs over the wait. Kessler's climb to the top five starts with a ranking, but it finishes with a season.
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