Cleveland Cavaliers trading Collin Sexton would be a mistake

Back in the offseason of 2017, the Cleveland Cavaliers were beginning a new chapter in their teams history. Long time point guard Kyrie Irving had had enough of playing second fiddle to LeBron James and told the Cavaliers front office that he wanted to be traded from the team.

The team and newly-appointed general manager Koby Altman gave in to Irving’s requests eventually and he was traded to the Boston Celtics in return for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and an unprotected first-round pick from the Brooklyn Nets. That was to go with a 2020 second-round pick, which was later the Miami Heat’s pick/compensation for Thomas’ injury situation later.

Nonetheless, it was thought at the time that the Cavaliers, while Irving was dealt, did get a few quality pieces back, provided Thomas could get healthy. Unfortunately, Thomas and Crowder had very slow starts in Cleveland and were traded from the team before even making it a full season with them.

Along with this, the Nets had a better season than expected and their pick slipped to the eighth overall in the 2018 NBA Daft. With that pick, the Cavaliers selected Alabama point guard, Collin Sexton.

Shortly after the draft, LeBron James left the team for the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency and the Cavaliers found themselves forced to the bottom of the league and into a rebuild.

Sexton has been one of the few bright pieces through this rebuild. While he has not been the savior that the Cavs have desperately needed, he has been a consistent player who has shown a great deal of growth through his first three seasons in the NBA.

That said, it appears that Cleveland is currently shopping him around, and you can view more regarding that here. The Golden State Warriors are also said to show interest in Sexton, for one, although their #7 pick is not something they’d be willing to part with, nor a player such as James Wiseman, per a report from Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and the Locked on Cavs podcast.

Dammarell did state how the Cavs could make an effort with future firsts from there to go for the #1 pick/Cade Cunningham via trade, though.

Even so, it’s difficult to say if Detroit would even consider that, and regarding others, multiple teams have shown interest in Sexton, but, seemingly rumored potential offers have been laughable.

They Cavs should not have even considered trading Sexton or let rumors/potential trade scenarios get as far as they already have.

However, if they do end up trading him for much less than he is worth, Altman must be relieved of his title of GM of this team.

We’ll emphasize why Sexton shouldn’t be traded by the Cavs first, though.

Why the Cavs shouldn’t trade Sexton

There is a very simple argument as to why Sexton should not be traded. That argument being that he is by far the best player on the team and he seems content in Cleveland.

The Cavs do not have the greatest track record of drafting players and Sexton is one of the few picks that they really knocked out of the park. He is well on his way to being an All-Star within the next couple of seasons if not more, and seems to like how things are coming along in Cleveland.

And the Cavaliers especially with the current state of their roster are not a free agent destination. Having a player like Sexton willing to stay for a long term deal eliminates the need to try to find another player of his caliber in free agency.

Sexton is emerging as an elite scorer. He was only in his third year and put up nearly averaging 25 points per game on rather efficient shooting. This now-past season, he was only a collective 13.9% off from joining the 50/40/90 club.

As his shot selection becomes better and less defensive attention is forced on him, this is a feat he may be able to accomplish.

There are only two main knocks on Sexton. The first being his playmaking and the second being his defense.

However, both of these can be explained a way rather easily.

In terms of playmaking, ever since he joined the team, Sexton has been relied upon to be the main driver of the Cavs offense. There are certain stretches of the game in which the Cavs do not score if Sexton does not score.

In terms of his defense, the stats do not paint a pretty picture for him, but, context makes things look much better for Sexton.

And the Cavaliers have mostly been an atrocious defensive team since Sexton was drafted to them leading to a high defensive rating for Sexton.

Along with this, despite not averaging many steals or deflections per game, Sexton has grown signs of growth on-ball, albeit the off-ball defense/feels needs improvement. The effort is there, though, and in the situation he’s been in, one shouldn’t gloss over that.

Rarely can a young player thrive on the defensive end just as they come into the league. Expecting Sexton to be an exception to this without giving him much time to be established in the NBA is rather unfair to him and does not give the Cavs the grounds to trade him.

Cavs: Potential Sexton trades

There are a plethora of teams who have expressed interest in making a trade with the Cavaliers to add Sexton to their roster, and the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans seem to be the most legitimate.

With all of these rumors swirling around and mock trades being thrown around, it may be set in stone that he will be moved from the Cavs.

But in these hypotheticals, the Cavaliers are not getting close to a player/return of equal value.

The Knicks could reportedly end giving up a package of Obi Toppin, Kevin Knox, and one of their 2021 first-round picks in return for Sexton. This would be an absolute robbery for the Knicks.

Toppin had a lackluster rookie season in which he only averaged 4.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. It is also important to keep in mind that Sexton is still younger than Toppin despite being in the league for two more seasons.

Secondly, Knox has had a very disappointing NBA career up to this point. He has seen a large regression since his rookie season. He went from starting in 57 games and averaging 12.8 points per game in his rookie year to coming off the bench in every game and only averaging 3.9 points per game in his third season.

Finally, regardless of the first-round pick the Cavs got from the Knicks, it would fall into the middle/later part of the first round. Trading someone like Sexton for two benchwarmers and a first-rounder that is out of the lottery would be laughable.

From there, the only player that’s been as part of a trade package that could be viable is Tyler Herro, but Herro has been in a great situation with Miami and with Cleveland, it’s difficult to say how he could pan out following this.

And from there, perhaps the Pacers could have interest in a deal involving the #13 pick and potentially Justin or Aaron Holiday? Either of those though, would be less than ideal.

We previously touched on the Golden State element/how Dammarell suggested that #14 pick could be involved in a potential package for Cunningham, but would Detroit consider that? That’s a question mark in itself, and otherwise that/with salary matching/another throw-in wouldn’t be the greatest move if it didn’t lead to a corresponding one.

Lastly, regarding New Orleans, really something not involving Brandon Ingram and salary matching, which it wouldn’t seem would other than including Cleveland’s #3 pick/Kevin Love (salary matching too) would appear to be wise, and it’s unclear if the Pelicans would go for that, even.

In any case, there should be no rush for Cleveland to get Sexton off of the team. He is a young and talented player who will likely have his value only increase as he continues to prove himself in the NBA.

Unless he has already expressed that he does not plan on re-signing with the Cavs, it would be idiotic for him to be traded from Cleveland.

Aftermath of a Cavs-Sexton trade

It goes without saying that in the NBA, if there is smoke, there is oftentimes fire. This is why it is so concerning for there to be so many rumors and reports of teams being interested in trading for Collin Sexton.

It has been said that re-signing Sexton may be too pricy for the Cavaliers to do and as a result they would rather deal him. But, with the seemingly laughable packages they are being offered for a player that could be the face of their franchise it would be idiotic to trade him and staffing changes must be made if this occurs.

This is the same franchise that happily extended Kevin Love for four years and $120 million after it was clear the team would be entering a rebuild. Giving up Sexton simply because the franchise does not want to pay him is despicable and a disservice to the fans that are loyally following this team while they are one of the worst in the league.

Along with this, allowing a team to swindle the Cavs for a player like Sexton with a package that is less than the value of Sexton should be enough to lead to Altman being relieved of his duties from the team.

Altman was given a rough hand when he accepted this job. He was forced to find a deal for a disgruntled Kyrie Irving and eventually try to keep the roster afloat after a failed veteran-led team in the beginning of the 2017 season and the departure of LeBron James in 2018.

Despite having to go through this adversity, Altman has only had a couple of positive moves as the GM that are far outweighed by his negatives.

Firstly, the package that Cleveland received in return for Irving ended up being a dud. Thomas was never the same player again after joining the Cavs, Crowder had a rough stint in Cleveland, and Sexton is the only thing Cleveland has left to show from that deal.

Secondly, the way that Altman and the front office handled the Kevin Porter Jr. situation may come back to haunt the franchise for years to come. It appears that Porter has the potential to become one of the most talented young stars in this league if he is able to stay out of trouble off the floor.

He has already drawn comparisons to James Harden two years into the league. If they were able to work things out with him, the Cavs would have one of the better young cores and brightest futures compared to the rest of the NBA.

Trading and giving up on Collin Sexton would have to be the final straw for Altman, especially if he is finessed in the deal.