Collin Sexton might just be the Cavs’ franchise player hiding in plain sight

The biggest takeaway this season is Collin Sexton has clearly and firmly established himself as someone that could be the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ franchise cornerstone.

Ever since LeBron James left the Cavs for the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2018, it’s been asked many times, who would be the next cornerstone piece for the Cavs?

Sexton came to the team in a difficult position. Sexton, not his fault, was the crown jewel from the previous Kyrie Irving trade with then the Boston Celtics, and was the Brooklyn Nets draft pick/asset the team wouldn’t trade in 2018 for one last playoff push with LeBron James.

Sexton came into the league being known as someone who could seemingly score at a high level, was an elite-level athlete and someone who is just so hard to stop in the open court and had a high motor. Plus, while having good physical measurables/buy-in, had the potential to be an impact defender.

The question marks came with his court vision/playmaking and his outside shot; Sexton, for context, hit just 33.6 percent of his three-point attempts in his lone collegiate season at Alabama.

Sexton deserves a lot of credit, though, as he started making tremendous strides with his jump shot/perimeter shot and his game post-All-Star break his rookie year. Post-All-Star break in 2018-2019 Sexton averaged 20.8 points per outing, as compared to 15.1 pre-All-Star then, and had 3.2 assists per contest to go with that.

And Sexton continued to improve in Year 2 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2019-20, Sexton averaged 20.8 points per game for the season, leading them, to go with 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals, while he shot 47.2 percent from the field and 38.0 percent from three-point land.

Sexton particularly raised his game after the Jordan Clarkson trade with the Utah Jazz, too, and was on a roll until COVID-19 abruptly ended the Cavs season ultimately with them not having been an Orlando bubble team.

We knew coming into the season Sexton was becoming a really, really good player on the ball, but we weren’t sure what his ceiling was.

Sexton came into the season as the Cavs’ best scorer, although you had some that thought Kevin Porter Jr. was argubly the Cavs’ most important piece long term; albeit Porter has since been essentially dumped via trade to the Houston Rockets. Nonetheless, Sexton is having a breakout season, but he hasn’t just taken a step forward, he’s taken two steps forward.

Sexton might just be the Cavs’ franchise player hiding in plain sight.

Going into Friday night’s game at the New York Knicks, Collin was averaging 25.2 points, 4.2 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals per outing, while he had been shooting 51.7 percent overall and 47.2 percent from three-point range. After that rough loss, he’s now at 24.6 points per game, and is shooting 50.4 percent, and 43.9 percent from deep, anyhow.

Anyway, it’s evident that Collin has been very efficient and his play is translating towards wins. Cavaliers head coach J.B Bickerstaff has done an impressive job as head coach, Darius Garland has made strides and Andre Drummond is playing at a high level, even while, per recent reports/rumors, it feels as if he’ll eventually be traded by the March 25 deadline.

But Sexton’s breakout year is the biggest reason the Cavs have been the NBA’s surprise team and in the mix for the playoffs at currently 9-10 and in the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Sexton has really improved his court vision and is making passes he wasn’t making a year ago, too. And while Sexton, no surprise, has struggled defensively his first two years in the league like most guards do, he has been significantly better on that side and is actually decent now. That’s hard for a lot of guards in only Year 3 and I expect him to get better, too.

Sexton has been one of the better players In the East and offers a strong argument to make his first All-Star appearance. When the Cavs missed out on Zion Williamson, it felt like they would be looking for their franchise cornerstone for a while, but with the huge leaps in his game he’s made this year, Sexton has firmly established himself as the guy that could be that franchise player.

Perhaps that type of player is actually hiding in plain sight, in Sexton.

Albeit the Cavs still have work to do. Friday night’s game at the Knicks reinforced that they need more spacing and another shot creator, off-the-bounce that is, that can be a legitimate second scoring option to take some of the burden off Sexton possession-to-possession.

The biggest win the Cavs have this year, though, is that it appears they might have very well found their franchise player after all.