While I personally believe the Cleveland Cavaliers should give him some time with their #3 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and still possibly could, Collin Sexton has been a key player mentioned in trade rumors of late.
To that subject, the likes of the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors appear to be the most legitimate rumored landing spots for Sexton via trade. And to that point, you can view more here and also here, via KJG’s Zane Harris.
I tend to agree more so with the aforementioned Harris, who expressed why doesn’t believe the Cavs should end up trading Sexton, who is a big-time scorer that’s on an upward trajectory in his career heading into his fourth season.
Nonetheless, I’ll put my feelings aside in that realm, and here, I’ll examine more so the Golden State-Sexton/Cavs element to a hypothetical trade.
Per a report from Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and the Locked on Cavs podcast, Golden State is a club that is “intrigued” with Sexton, but in a potential deal, would not be looking to part with their #7 pick (via the Minnesota Timberwolves), or a player such as James Wiseman or Andrew Wiggins. Albeit as Dammarell did state in his report, Golden State would part with the #14 pick, which Dammarell noted could possibly be used as a piece in a package the Cavs could try to send to the Detroit Pistons for the #1 pick/Cade Cunningham.
The same can be said for Andrew Wiggins, who the Warriors have become high on after turning him into a respectable two-way player. https://t.co/UHfRrbADzp
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) July 18, 2021
More on this - Cleveland could get pick no. 14 for Sexton and then try and trade 3, 14, and 1-2 future firsts to Detroit for the ability to take Cade Cunningham.
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) July 18, 2021
Again, like the talks with New York and Miami everything remains fluid but the Sexton trade front is heating up. https://t.co/HF9sdsgfPd
While teams could be hesitant to acquire Sexton, given his contract situation/next offseason’s restricted free agency potential, in this hypothetical, we’ll project the Cavs to end up dealing Collin for that #14 pick via the Warriors, though. Sexton could give Golden State some scoring pop, given Klay Thompson’s injury troubles.
And in this sense, I still do question if Cunningham could be had, even for perhaps another Cavaliers future first.
With that being the case, though, to go with maybe the likes of Jordan Poole or Kevon Looney (to a much lesser extent), who are a few targets for the Cavs at that #14 spot, then?
We’ll highlight three of them for the Cavaliers in that scenario here.
The first in that hypothetical relates to Moses Moody, a 6-foot-6 guard/wing out of Arkansas.
Potential Cavs NBA Draft target #1 with the #14 Warriors pick: Moses Moody
When it comes to the 19-year-old Moody, if he’s there, he’d provide a quality 3-and-D player for the Cavaliers that could be far more than that in the near future.
In this scenario, even with Sexton dealt, I would think that Moody would likely come off the bench early on for the Cavaliers, but could very well be a starting 2 or 3 with Isaac Okoro, and/or if Cleveland were to deal previously rumored trade pieces Taurean Prince/Cedi Osman at some point. That’s even more so if the Cavs were to sign a wing in free agency, such as Reggie Bullock or Doug McDermott, with uncertainty involved with Dylan Windler, for instance.
Anyway, with Moody, he did a nice job for the most part in his lone collegiate season at Arkansas, having 16.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest.
Now, though Moody had struggles in tournament play, for much of his season, he was a productive off-the-catch perimeter shooter for the Razorbacks. And overall, he did still knock in 35.8 percent from three on 5.1 attempts per outing.
With the Cavs, I do believe Moody, whether he came off the bench to begin his career or started, perhaps at the 3 with Okoro starting games more so at the 2, could aid the Cavs spacing/shooting, and Moody showed plenty of shot creation promise at Arkansas, too. That’s to go with off-movement shooting as well.
In addition, on the defensive end, the 6-foot-6, 205-pound Moody plays with quality technique to contain on-ball perimeter threats, and I’d imagine could more than hold his own against a number of guards/wings on-ball.
In the team sense, he is generally in the right spots, and his 7-foot wingspan should make him a factor in passing lanes at the next level. And it aids him in contests as a rotator to shooters and at times can help him block shots on the interior from the weak side.