What Could’ve Been: Where was the Cleveland Cavaliers ceiling with Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen?

What could the Cleveland Cavaliers have accomplished with Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen?

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz are just hours away from tipoff as of press time. The two squads will clash on the court for the first time following the trade of Donovan Mitchell from the Jazz to the Cavs. In Cleveland, Mitchell has thrived and turned himself into a real MVP candidate. The Jazz, however, are in an odd place. They traded away their three best players in Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, and Bojan Bogdanovic in the offseason with the thought of rebuilding.

That’s why their trade return from the Cavs included two young guards Collin Sexton and rookie Ochai Agbaji, as well as young forward Lauri Markkanen and a copious amounts of draft picks. Yet, instead of tanking, the Jazz are currently 18-15 and in 8th in the Western Conference.

Markkanen is having a career year, with 22 points and nearly nine rebounds per game, and while the Jazz are no longer the top seed in the West like they were at one point, he has still led the Jazz to be only 3.5 games out of first in the West. So tanking may not be on the radar anymore for the young club, especially with Markkanen playing as well as he is.

With their success and the return of former Cavaliers to Cleveland, we’re left wondering what the Cavs would’ve looked like had the trade never happened.

What would the Cleveland Cavaliers’ ceiling be with Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen?

While Mitchell plays defense like a spaghetti strainer stops nuclear fallout radiation, I would not re-do the trade and keep Markkanen and Sexton. I probably would’ve tried to find a way to not send Markkanen over in the first place, but short of trading Markkanen, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, or yes, Kevin Love, I would’ve moved anyone (and yes, including Darius Garland) to get Mitchell in Cleveland.

He’s been that good, so asking how good the Cavs would be without Mitchell is nothing more this is a thought exercise, not a statement of regret.

So what does the Cavs look like with Sexton and Markkanen instead? Well, the offense is probably not as good. If this year was like last year, then Sexton and Caris LeVert are likely to get more shots than Markkanen, which would have been a stupid thing to see knowing how good Markkanen is as a shooter (.529/.420/.843), rocking a true shooting percentage of .657. A career high.

This output was always possible for Markkanen but the Cavs did a great job of limiting his touches last year. Opting to play through Sexton and then LeVert when Garland was not taking shots. Markkanen’s defense, however, would be a welcomed return to the lineup, as he was one of the team’s better all-around defenders.

As for Sexton, he would not have been the difference maker many thought he could be, and even at his zenith with the Cavs, he was never the same type of player that Mitchell is. Mitchell can score from all three levels, while Sexton, frankly can’t. That allowed the Cavs to get a bit funky with lineups now that Mitchell is on the team, something they couldn’t do with Sexton due to his limited offensive shot selection.

The Cavs would not be an Eastern Conference contender with Sexton and Markkanen but they’d still be a top-four team in the east. That is until Ricky Rubio returns. Once Rubio returns, the Cavs should (in theory) be their best shelf.

The Cavs would be able to ride that defense deep into the playoffs, assuming no one got hurt for long stretches but if they did, a Mitchell-less Cavs team does not advance far if the Cavaliers lose Allen or Mobley. With Mitchell, should the Cavs lose Allen, Mobley, or whoever, the team would be just fine and would be able to compete still.

So, had the Cavs not made that trade, the team would be a step behind where they are currently

Granted, this is all anecdotal evidence but if you’ve seen the 2021-2022 squad and the 2022-20223 squads, and you compare how different they are with Sexton and Mitchell, you can see with the eye test, that this Cavs team is just a more aggressive team on offense.