The Los Angeles Lakers committed to paying Walker Kessler as if he's already an All-Star-level talent, believing he can reach that status without knowing for sure. Maybe playing on a good team is going to unlock stuff in his game that we haven't quite seen before. Lakers paid Walker Kessler based on the player they think he can beTo point out the obvious, you're not going to get by with getting a restricted free agent on a steal of a deal. The Lakers already knew that they'd have to "overpay" to get Kessler or Jalen Duren. If not, the Lakers will have a much larger problem on their hands.