Cavs: Collin Sexton isn’t the best player from his class, but he’s making a case

You’d be wrong to suggest The Cavs’ Collin Sexton is the best player from his NBA Draft Class, but to argue he’s not in the top three is wholly wrong.

When Collin Sexton was picked up in the 2018 NBA Draft, not many people expected him to rise to the level of a true franchise star, but if the start of the 2020-2021 NBA season is a sign of things to come, not only can Sexton become the star of the Cavs, but he could possibly come to challenge the stars of the 2018 Draft class like Luka Doncic and Trae Young. To be fair, to surpass Doncic would be a huge task, one that no one should put on the shoulders of Sexton. Right now, Doncic may just be the best all-around player in the NBA, so that’s not fair of a comparison.

Yet, if the Cavs can keep up their winning ways, assuming their roster gets healthy, and have a similar if not better record than the Hawks, you could argue that Sexton is on the level of Young. After all, winning is what matters most as an NBA player. Unlike other sports, especially football, the NBA is truly the lone sport that can measure players by their ability to win games. So if Sexton can get the Cavs to the playoffs this year and keep up his torrid scoring pace, then you could easily make the argument that Sexton is at least on Young’s level, if not surpassed it.

Right now Sexton is averaging 55% from the floor and 51% from the three-point line. He may not keep up that pace all year and you could easily argue that he won’t, but if he continues to be near the top of the league in shooting efficiency, and have a winning record, he’ll cement himself as a true star on the rise in the NBA.

To help add to that, he’s already matching records that LeBron James has set while in a Cavaliers uniform.

The one area that Sexton already has an edge on with Young is his defense. Granted, neither man is great on defense, but Sexton does have quicker hands than Young and has more steals on the year for now as well. That may change down the road but right now the nod goes to Sexton.

Sexton should make his first All-Star game this year, assuming there is an All-Star game, but it’s pretty clear that he’s at least third from his draft class right now. After all, Deandre Ayton has fallen into the background some, and Marvin Bagley is looking more and more like a disappointment. Jaren Jackson Jr. hasn’t taken the floor in 2021 yet, and for a power forward his rebounding is awful. Outside of those few players, there isn’t really anyone able to compete with Sexton.

It’ll be interesting to see where Sexton and Young fall at the end of the year, no matter who shows to be the better guard but right now Doncic is still the unquestioned king of the class.