The Cleveland Cavaliers have reportedly picked up Collin Sexton’s third-year team option.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have reportedly picked up second-year point guard Collin Sexton’s third-year team option, worth $4.99 million, meaning he will be under contract until at least the summer of 2021 where he could become a restricted free agent if the Cavs decline to pick up his fourth-year option.
The Athletic‘s Kelsey Russo had the scoop, and it’s a team option from his rookie deal, as Hoops Rumors’ Chris Crouse noted.
#Cavs have picked up guard Collin Sexton’s third-year player option for next season, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA. The option is worth $4.99 million.
— Kelsey Russo (@kelseyyrusso) October 29, 2019
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Sexton really came on over the last quarter of the season during his rookie year and he has started off his second campaign very well.
Through three games this season, according to Basketball-Reference, Sexton has per-game averages of 17.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2 assists. He has knocked down 43.8% of his three-point attempts while shooting a hefty 5.3 per game.
Coming into the league out of the University of Alabama, Sexton didn’t have the reputation as a knockdown shooter but he has proved his naysayers wrong. Last season, per Basketball-Reference, Sexton attempted 3.6 three-pointers per game and he knocked in 40.2% of those attempts.
Despite how well Sexton played down the stretch last season, the Cavaliers selected another point guard in the 2019 NBA Draft when they used the fifth overall pick on Vanderbilt University’s Darius Garland.
The fit was questionable, to say the least, but through three games, it hasn’t seemed to negatively impact Sexton’s performance. Garland has gotten off to a bit of a slow start in his debut season but his distributing seems to be a much more natural ability as compared to Sexton’s distributing.
The Cavs, perhaps, are trying to emulate the Portland Trail Blazers’ excellent backcourt of CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard.
Sexton and Garland have a long way to go to reach the level of McCollum and Lillard but early returns are promising. While Lillard was an excellent scorer right from the onset of his career, it took McCollum some time to acclimate to the NBA game.
According to Basketball-Reference, McCollum only started three games throughout his first two NBA seasons and averaged 5.3 points and 6.8 points per game in each of those seasons. He has been a 20 point per game scorer every year since then, however.
The Cavaliers front office and the coaching staff clearly see something in the pairing of Sexton and Garland to warrant picking up Sexton’s third-year option at this point.
If the backcourt tandem can grow throughout the season, there is a high likelihood that the Cavs could be serious players in restricted free agency this summer as they will have a bevy of salary cap space to throw at players.
Another important aspect for the Cavs when it comes to free agency this summer is the fact that they were able to lock up wing Cedi Osman for much less than he potentially could have received when they extended him with a four-year, $30.8 million contract.
Osman is off to a slow start this season, but his contract is a steal when comparing it to other NBA small forwards. The Cavs are in an excellent spot with the salary cap. If they end up dealing Kevin Love, they will be in an even better spot. He is the only large, long-term contract the Cavaliers will have on the books following this season.
According to Spotrac, Love is in the first year of a four-year contract that will pay him $120-million over the lifetime of the deal.
If the Cavs stand pat with their roster and don’t re-sign any of their expiring players, they will have roughly $40 million worth of cap space to make a run at some top-flight restricted free agents.
The team picking up Sexton’s third-year option, and not waiting until the deadline even to decide is exciting because it lets the fans know that the Cavaliers’ brass is sold on the backcourt tandem, meaning they have been successful in their rebuild so far. Filling out the roster will be much easier due to the fact that they have so many key pieces on cheap deals next season.