It seems the Cavaliers and Collin Sexton are in for an awkward 2022-23 season. Sexton is a restricted free agent and reportedly would like a multiyear deal, but the two sides are far apart in terms of the money.
Sexton is said to want around $18-20 million per year, while the Cavs have offered a reported $13 million per season, presumably to stay under the luxury tax level for another year.
This is one of those situations where both sides are justified in their positions, and the best thing would be for Sexton to take the one year qualifying offer of $8.6 million for next season.
From the wine and gold’s standpoint, Sexton has been a productive player, albeit on real bad teams. He did average 24.3 points and 4.4 assists for Cleveland in 2020-21, but the team went 22-50 that year.
Last year, the Cavs got to the play in tournament and a chance to make an actual best-of-seven series, but Sexton missed most of the campaign with a knee injury, playing in just 11 games.
So, it depends how people view Sexton coming into his fifth year in the league. Is he a budding all-star, a player coming off an injury, or a guy who has demonstrated the ability to put up big numbers on a bad team?
As for Sexton, we are sure he would like a long term deal from the Cavaliers or any other NBA team, but right now, he doesn’t seem to be drawing any interest from around the league.
It could be because most teams are up against the salary cap right now, so the money simply isn’t there to sign a free agent from another team. Or it could be that Sexton is an strange fit, a 6’2″ off guard, who might be best served coming off the bench.
As we said before, we can see both sides on this one. Sexton has shown he can put up numbers in the NBA, but at this point, there doesn’t seem to be a market for him. On the other hand, for the Cavs, he probably was their best player heading into last season, but things change, and right now, he might be their fourth or fifth best player.
Timing is everything, and for Sexton, getting hurt and the Cavaliers having their best season since the departure of LeBron James (and the arrival of Sexton) is unfortunate for the player.
Things may loosen up on the sign-and-trade market once the situations are resolved with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Donovan Mitchell too. The Cavs and Sexton might even be involved to make things work under the salary cap.
Some things in life aren’t fair, but the best option for Collin Sexton might be to play under the qualifying offer this season, show everyone around the league what kind of player he can be, and see what his value is around the NBA.
And if the Cavaliers make the playoffs in 2022-23 and Sexton is a key contributor to that effort, he can and will make Koby Altman dig deep into his pockets to keep him around. If Sexton still wants to be around at that point.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 