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SALT LAKE CITY — "What songs?" Walker Kessler repeated, obviously confused at the question.
A reporter had misheard him. When Kessler had said "sitting on the plane," the reporter heard "singing on the plane" — just a bit of a difference. That prompted the confusing follow up. Kessler, though, didn't miss a beat.
"Oh, yeah we're like, 'One, two, three,'" Kessler said immediately, having fun with the moment.
Kessler was in the process of describing the evolution of he and Lauri Markkanen's relationship, but here's the thing: The two singing together on the Jazz charter flights doesn't feel that out of place.
After all, they have the tendency to turn every interview together into comedy hour, poking fun and riffing off each other. And ahead of All-Star weekend, the two participated in a photoshoot and posed for a fake snowball fight.
The relationship is almost brother-like. Markkanen is the loving older sibling, and Kessler is the (sometimes) annoying little brother trying to keep up.
It's been a growing dynamic that really picked up steam when Kessler was asked to hand Markkanen's All-Star campaign sweatshirts to his teammates for a social media video. He happily obliged, and then turned it into a full fledged bit.
He named himself Markkanen's campaign manager, gave updates on the campaign throughout the season, and jokingly (we think?) kept asking for a commission from his All-Star teammate.
"I had to approve the design; that's a lie," he said. "I enjoy doing stuff like that. It was fun to play that role for Lauri."
It's appropriate that the pair will be Utah's most seen athletes this weekend as the basketball world comes to Salt Lake City. Kessler will participate in the Rising Stars tournament on Friday night and then will be part of Team Utah in Saturday's Skill Challenge. Markkanen will be in the 3-point contest on Saturday before starting in Sunday's All-Star Game.
"Before he was on this team or anything, I watched him in high school," Kessler said. "I really liked how he was a 7-foot skilled big."
But he was also a quiet 7-foot big. At least at first.
"Lauri comes across pretty serious and stoic, just kind of his general facial expressions, and he's so humble," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "When he speaks to (the media), sometimes it almost seems like he's not having a ton of fun."
First impressions, though, aren't always accurate. He's more like Kessler, the outspoken lovable goofball, than initially meets the eye.
Just in the last week, Markkanen's jokingly roasted a reporter for not having a passport and given daily updates on his character's progress in the new Harry Potter video game "Hogwarts Legacy." ("I am about to learn 'Crucio.' … I'm a good guy, but that will be nice to have in the back pocket.")
That fun translates onto the court, as well. He practices dunks before every game (and based on the amount of guys he's hammered over this year, that seems to be paying off), and for weeks he's been trying to bounce in a 60-plus foot shot when he sees the media's camera's turn on.
"He has a really quick wit and he's very sarcastic," Hardy said. "He's a guy that just really seems to find joy in playing basketball, and he enjoys the process of it all. Like, he's not, he's not any different if it's practice or shootaround or a workout on an off day. He just genuinely loves being in the gym and he loves playing basketball. It's been fun to see."
And it's been fun to see the relationship grow between the All-Star and the Rising Star. Hardy said rookies want to feel like they belong; that's not limited to the court.
"I think the veteran guys, the guys that have been in the league have done a really good job with our young players of making them feel a part (of the group)," Hardy said. "Lauri and Walker's comedy act they got going seems to be going well. And we'll see if they can continue to generate good material."
Who knows, maybe they'll even start singing.
