Cavs: With Collin Sexton out it’s Ricky Rubio’s time to shine

The Cavs will have to rely on Ricky Rubio now with Collin Sexton out.

The Cavs got brutal news Friday night, as guard Collin Sexton was ruled out for the remainder of the season after surgery to repair his torn miniscous. Key bench player Ricky Rubio will now have to step up. The Cavs, who have lost three straight to fall to 9-8, are without Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley; while Sexton wasn’t expected back anytime soon, the revelation that his injury is that serious has made the other injuries so much more significant.

Kevin Love just came after dealing with health and safety protocols, and Markkanen is in the same boat. Allen’s injury isn’t serious but he’s game-time-decision for the foreseeable future. Mobley is expected to be out a month but we’ve seen that take far longer. That means there’s pressure to fill in for Sexton and that falls on Rubio. He’s shooting just under 40% from the floor, which is in line with his career average but his three-point shooting is actually higher this year (37%) than his career average (32%).

Currently, Rubio’s biggest issue is turnovers, where he’s averaging the second-most in his career per game. Rubio has proven to be a great facilitator for the Cavaliers, and a great defender as well. While the team shouldn’t rely on him to be the primary scoring option, that doesn’t mean the team shouldn’t rely on him.

Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio’s contracts now hang in the balance.

Both Sexton and Rubio were going to be looking for new deals after this year. Sexton is in the last year of his rookie contract, and Rubio is on an expiring deal. Both men are hoping to get a new deal sooner rather than later and both men have made public comments about wanting to remain in Cleveland.

For Sexton it was about building the team up, for Rubio it was simply being fed up with being traded all the time. Rubio has found a home in Cleveland if his production stays consistent. If by the All-Star break, Rubio is at or improved his splits with the Cavs, you better expect to hear a lot of people advocating for him getting a new deal.

For Sexton, that is going to be a much harder sell. He was underperforming as it were. He was posting career low’s in minutes played, free-throw percentages, three-point shooting percentages, points-per-game, and assists.

That doesn’t mean the Cavaliers don’t want or need Sexton, but it’s clear that he wasn’t the future All-Star many had predicted him to be. With the improved talent around him, the team didn’t need him nearly as much. Coupled that with his horrid defense, and the team may still be able to compete without him.

They’ll need shooting help and right now Isaac Okoro and Dylan Windler aren’t exactly filling in for Rubio, who of course is filling in for Sexton. Moves will have to be made eventually to replace Sexton, one would think unless someone like Kevin Pangos all of a sudden erupts as a reliable option.