Collin Sexton, the 8th overall pick in the 2018 draft and the player who truly represents the start of the Cleveland Cavaliers rebuild is in one of the toughest spots you can be in when trying to negotiate a new deal. Restricted Free-Agency.
Sexton, nearing a return from an early season-ending meniscus injury, is understandably seeking long-term stability in the form of a much higher salary. After he was unable to come to terms on a new deal with the Cleveland-based franchise during the 2021 offseason, the hope was that Sexton could show just how important of a player he could be to the team. Clearly that never occurred.
The problem is that nearly every relevant factor is working against him at the moment. His injury could not have happened at a worse time and while no injury occurs at an opportune moment, this one truly robbed both Sexton and the Cavs at a fair evaluation.
He was never really able to showcase how his talents would fit with the current core and the Cavs were not able to get enough tape to make a fair assessment of whether or not he was worthy of the contract he was reportedly asking ($25 million per year) for prior to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
And while he got off to a slow start by his standards, Sexton still managed to put up averages of 16.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 2.1 APG in 11 games while trying to adjust to a new role within the confines of the offense. It seemed that he was being asked to play more off-ball in an effort to maximize on the facilitation that backcourt mate Darius Garland brings to the table.
The Alabama product isn’t far removed from leading the team with a career-high 24.3 Points and dishing out 4.4 Assists (also a career-high). That was then and this is now though. The biggest knock on Sexton is that he supposedly doesn’t do anything at a high-level outside of score. I find that assessment to be highly exaggerated.
In the 3 seasons prior, Sexton was often tasked with being the leading man by default.
Now I want you to think back to his rookie season (2018-19) and visualize the roster at hand. This was at a time in which it seemed that the roster was in a constant state of flux. There were so many moves made back then.
Kevin Love, this year's runner-up for Sixth-Man of the year award, played just 22 games and was pretty far removed from being the alpha on any team. Tristan Thompson averaged the first double-double of his career (10.9 PPG, 10.2 RPG) but only played in 43 games himself. In fact only 6 players suited up for at least 50 games that season (Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr., Ante Žižić, and David Nwaba).
Injuries, trades, buyouts and more contributed to a true lack of chemistry among the 18-19 squad. Clarkson, a player many believe Sexton is similar too, was really Cleveland’s 2nd best player that season. It also didn’t help that Ty Lue was let go after just 6 games with the team and was replaced by Larry Drew who wasn’t keen on taking over. The lineup was a revolving door and it resulted in a 19-63 record and 3 first-round picks which turned into Darius Garland, Dylan Windler, and Kevin Porter Jr.
The next season went by much the same with Garland not really feeling like himself and still trying to play his way into basketball shape after a suffering a meniscus injury in college. Windler missed the entire season and Porter Jr. actually looking the part of a first round pick. The roster saw consistent change once again and injuries played a heavy role in the lineup combinations.
Yet another head coaching change was made from 1st year coach John Beilein to current head honcho J.B. Bickerstaff when the former was ousted after making some controversial comments and never really meshing with the young team.
Collin Sexton was once again a constant as he played in every game for the 2nd season in a row and seeing noticeable improvements nearly across the board putting up a stat-line of: 20.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.0 STL, 47.2/38.0/84.6. Kevin Love was probably the second most productive player that season with averages of 17.6 PPG, 9.8 RPG, and 3.2 APG, and while that’s a fine season from a statistical standpoint, it was becoming clearer and clearer that he couldn’t carry a team.
The team would once again finish in the lottery and ended up selecting Isaac Okoro based off of his potential to become a high-end 3-and-D wing. In case you’ve been living under a rock sense then, he’s not quite there yet.
Then came Sexton’s aforementioned year 3 breakthrough in which he once again experienced career highs in scoring (24.3), rebounding (3.1), assists (4.4) field goal percentage (47.5%) and more which was highlighted by his 42 point detonation against the newly formed big three in Brooklyn. He looked the part of alpha on a team that started to piece some things together offensively but still struggled to stay healthy for the most part.
Darius Garland also leap frogged nearly everyone else on the roster and laid claim to being the second best player in town on his way to 17.4 PPG and a team-leading 6.1 APG. It was also becoming clear that he operated best with the ball in his hands and might be even better as the primary ball-handler hinting at his future breakout.
There were, of course, other storylines that season. The Andre Drummond experiment didn’t work out and he was bought out, Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince were brought in with the latter serving as a key piece in acquiring the services of Ricky Rubio and the COVID pandemic was still running rampant which necessitated an abbreviated 72 game schedule. Kevin Porter Jr. was sent packing to the Houston Rockets because of behavioral issues in a move that was widely panned by many Cavs fans at the time but was the right call and Kevin Love was moody.
The Cavs finished the 2020-21 season with a 22-50 record and in lottery territory for the fourth time in as many seasons but this time they finished with a top-3 pick and selected Evan Mobley. Add in the trade for Rubio, the acquisition of Lauri Markkanen and natural development of others on the roster and It was easy to see a possible end to the rebuild stage heading into the 2021-22 campaign.
Poised to prove his worth prior to the start of 2021-22, Sexton’s season couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. He saw a dip in numerous categories including: minutes (28.7 per game, down from 35.3 the previous year), field goal attempts (13.7 from 18.4) points (16.0) and assists (2.1) to name a few. It was clear that he wasn’t getting the same opportunities he was once afforded because of the touches being more spread out.
The Alabama product got just 11 games to produce and that’s not a large enough sample size to determine his fit with the current roster and it’s also, unfortunately, not large enough to make a fair call on his contractual worth at this time in my opinion. His latest reported offer checks in around 3-years, $40 million, per Chris Fedor of cleveland.com. An offer that many within the organization must feel is fair considering the injury and lack of game tape with the current core.
That offer of roughly $13.3 million a year on average is a far cry from the offer he is currently seeking which was reported to be “starting guard money" per NBA Insider Michael Scotto.
Sexton also has the option of playing the 2022-23 season on the $7.2 million qualifying offer he was extended by the Cavs and hitting unrestricted free-agency next off-season. This would by far be the riskier option but could offer the quicker path to netting the contract he is seeking.
The Cavaliers are also taking a bit of a gamble here as well by betting that their offer is enough to entice him to sign on the dotted line. Their latest offer indicates that they are unwilling to move into serious luxury tax territory to retain him and that they believe they don’t have to outbid themselves considering there doesn’t seem to be a market for him at the moment.
Further complicating things is the presence of one Caris LeVert whom was acquired in a deal that sent Ricky Rubio to the Pacers. LeVert is entering the final season of his current deal and could be in line to receive a new deal pending the outcome of the Sexton situation. In a recent appearance on the Zach Lowe podcast, Chris Fedor of cleveland.com indicated that some within the Cavs organization may prefer LeVert to Sexton because of his length and fit next to Garland.
This is not really Sexton’s fault as I believe that the timing of his injury combined with the breakout of Garland and lack of significant cap space around the league this off-season in general have led to teams staying put for now. That could change by next off-season if he has a productive year and remains healthy.
This is a complicated situation in more ways than one. On one hand, the Cavs were able to string together quite the impressive season in his absence. They finished the season with a 44-38 record and reaching the play-in tournament and on the other, there was a clear need for what Sexton does best at various moments throughout the 2021-22 campaign.
They would end up losing in back-to-back games to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks. Numerous factors played a part in those losses, be it the loss of Rubio, Jarrett Allen’s broken finger, or the lack of consistency within the starting lineup. Perhaps the most glaring issue of all though was a Sexton-sized hole in the scoring department.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, that he could have aided them in some form or fashion and I’m sure the man yearned to be out there with his teammates. The competitor in him would’ve done everything he could to put the the team over the top.
We’ve seen the competitive spirit in him at work time and time again whether it be the fabled 3-5 game at Alabama, a rookie-season outing against the Rockets in which he carried the team to victory with a then career-high 29 points or the aforementioned Nets game the season prior.
At the end of the day, I do believe Sexton will be a Cavalier come rain or shine next season but time will tell which path Sexton opts to take towards doing so.
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