A dream week is unfolding for Walker Kessler. Just days after being traded from the Utah Jazz to the Los Angeles Lakers and signing a new four-year contract, the 24-year-old center announced his engagement to his girlfriend, Abbi Stockard, Miss America 2025.

Kessler knelt on July 4, American Independence Day, and the couple shared the engagement in touching Instagram posts. "I thank God for the chance to spend the rest of my life with you, Abbi. To our shared life together. I love you so much," wrote the Lakers player.

Stockard, 23, also shared photos from the proposal and wrote: "The biggest surprise! We are getting married! I get to marry Walker Kessler, my best friend. Our story is truly one that only God could have written. So many things I thought were coincidences were actually part of His perfect plan."

The couple's love story began during their time at Auburn University. It was actually Kessler's mother who set them up. She spotted Stockard - then a cheerleader for the university - during a basketball game, photographed her, and sent the picture to her son. A few weeks later she located her name, Kessler found her on Instagram, and since then, as he himself recounted with a smile, "the rest is history."

The pair had already become one of the most talked-about couples in the United States after Kessler was captured in January 2025 reacting with immense excitement to Stockard's Miss America win. The clip, showing him jumping from his seat and hugging his coach in pure joy, went viral across social media.

Kessler has often been called a "geek" because of his appearance, and recently popular commentator Stephen A. Jackson criticized the Lakers for signing too many white players and thus limiting their chances of success.

Now, after the move to one of the NBA's biggest franchises, Kessler is opening a new chapter off the court as well - with an engagement ring, a wedding on the horizon, and plenty of reasons to smile.