In a season that has started with optimism for the future in Salt Lake City, this is a punch to the gut.

Center Walker Kessler will undergo surgery to repair a left shoulder labral tear and is out for the remainder of the season, the Jazz announced Wednesday. He had started the first five games of the season for the Jazz but had been out the last two with what the team had called "left shoulder bursitis."

Kessler was having the best season of his career, averaging 14.4 points a game, shooting 70.3%, while pulling down 10.8 rebounds per game. However, his bigger contributions have been on the defensive end, where he is developing into one of the league's elite rim protectors.

Kessler was putting up those numbers the summer before he becomes a restricted free agent. While there will certainly still be teams interested in the big man, this is not helping him earn the contract he hoped to land. Kessler was the No. 22 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and before he played a minute he had already been traded twice, landing in Utah as part of the deal that sent Rudy Gobert to Minnesota. Those were big shoes to fill, but Kessler has looked like the next high-level center in Utah.

Kessler being out will mean more Jusuf Nurkic and Kyle Filipowski in Utah, and likely more minutes for Kevin Love. Utah was going to lose a lot of games this season with or without Kessler, but he had shown the kind of growth that provides hope for the fan base of a rebuilding team. His loss for the season hurts.