Cavs GM Koby Altman was rightfully gushing about guard Collin Sexton while taking with the press during a season re-hash session April 19.
Altman made the point of mentioning how Sexton was the first building block in the Cavs’ rebuild, signaling he’d like the former No. 8 overall pick to return next season. Sexton is a restricted free agent and his future with the club remains murky, considering Darius Garland has hit superstar status, while Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen led to the invention of “Tall Ball.”
Publicly, this is what Altman should be doing, because negotiations are going to be difficult. Sexton became extension eligible last summer and obviously, nothing got done between the two sides.
Cavs can’t get stuck with bad deal
If there’s one thing Cleveland can’t do, it’s to sign Sexton into a contract he can play into. Hoping Sexton takes a Garland size leap in his fourth season would be a massive gamble and would probably backfire.
At this point, Cleveland doesn’t look like they’re going to offer a max and that’s a good ideal. Altman should try and retain the super scorer, although it’s critical for the GM to sign Sexton to a deal they can trade one day, should it come to that.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst pointed to the extension given to Kevin Huerter by the Hawks, which was for $65 million over four years, via TheLandonDemand.com (subscription required).
"“The Cavs will be looking at Kevin Huerter around $16 million (per season), maybe less. But that’s the type of the contract that Sexton, who is a super scoring guard, that you can move.”"
Windhorst added that a sign-and-trade deal involving Sexton could be on the table, but noted the Cavs would not be looking to do any team a favor. If they partook in this transaction, they’d be looking to get assets that help now, now a second-round pick.
Sexton is represented by Rich Paul, who also represents Darius Garland. The All-Star is extension eligible this summer and the contract negotiations should take all about 30 seconds.