Cleveland Cavaliers keeping options open by extending qualifying offer to Collin Sexton

The Cleveland Cavaliers are far from ready to move on from Collin Sexton.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not done with Collin Sexton, not by a long shot. The Cavs announced today that they’ve extended qualifying offers to Sexton and R.J. Nembhard for the upcoming season. The qualifying offer guarantees that each player will return to the roster if no one offers them a contract.

The qualifying offer makes each player a restricted free agent, and due to their restrictive status, the Cavs have the first right of refusal. Now, this does not mean either Sexton or Nembhard returns for sure. If another team offers a contract to each player that the Cavaliers do not want to match, the team that offered them the contract will get the player.

This doesn’t mean the Cavs will even get to free agency with Sexton. It’s usually done by a placeholder to allow teams more time to negotiate deals. The Cavs can still negotiate a deal with Sexton but should the deal not be finalized in time, and someone offers Sexton a deal, the Cavs would have to match that contract.

Restricted free agency will prove to be a game of chicken of the highest order.

For everyone involved, this is a gamble. You don’t want to low-ball Sexton too much in any negotiation, but you shouldn’t be willing to break the bank should a team come in with a ludicrously high number.

If you’re the Cavs, and you don’t want to pay Sexton more than $15 million per year, but you really want to keep him, you have to keep in mind that any offer before the restricted free agency will show your hand. Yet, if you don’t try to negotiate in good faith, Sexton may demand a sign and trade.

So there’s a balancing act here. You can conceivably get Sexton for less than he’s valued if a team comes in way too low on the offer sheet. All the Cavs have to do then is agree to the same terms and Sexton is back in Cleveland. Yet, most well ran teams won’t do such a thing.

They’ll likely over-bid and try to make the Cavs either eat a bad contract or try and show Sexton that he’s valued much more elsewhere.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. If the Cavs are serious about retaining Sexton, I wouldn’t be surprised if team president Koby Altman and GM Mike Gansey kept negotiating with Sexton well before free agency officially started in an attempt to avoid a bidding war for the young guard.

That’s probably what they should do, as there isn’t a better option that is available to them, so there’s no reason to look elsewhere.