Cavs: 3 players who must step up with Collin Sexton out for year

Cavs that must step up with Sexton out for the year: #1 – Lauri Markkanen

One of the handful of moves that the Cavaliers made this offseason, the trade for Lauri Markkanen, was one that would help improve the cohesion of the team. Trading away a fan favorite in Larry Nance Jr. made this move questionable but improving the shooting on the team as well as adding a player who fits the young core’s timeline made sense.

Markkanen’s Cavalier career has been underwhelming to start but his inefficiencies haven’t been highlighted due to the club’s hot start. Through his first eight games, he is averaging career-lows in points, field goal percentage and three-point percentage. His failure to hit shots early on is confusing as while playing a new position, he’s still tasked to shoot mainly catch-and-shoot shots.

The play hasn’t been all bad however and in the three games before heading into COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Markkanen was averaging 16.3 points, shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 35 percent from three on nearly seven attempts per game.

The biggest thing to grasp about Markkanen is that it seems a familiar foe has struck again. Seeming to hit his stride, COVID-19 has taken away any rhythm that he has seemed to gain which is something he’s had problems with in the past. These reasons can be the cause for his consistency issues and now he’ll have to find his momentum again.

With Sexton out, this is the time for Markkanen to do the most with increased opportunities. It should be some leeway for him however as he improves his conditioning. Currently, once everyone aside from Sexton returns from injury, Markkanen projects to be the second-third scoring option on the team, and time will tell if he will be up for that task.