3 reasons the Cavs offered Collin Sexton a small contract

3 reasons Cavs offered Collin Sexton a small deal: Maintaining 2023 cap space

As things stand, the Cavs are in line to have more than $40 million in cap space next season, enough to sign a free agent to a maximum deal. They could also use that space on multiple players, or to help balance out a trade. With Evan Mobley set to get expensive in just a few years, this would be their best chance to add another major piece to the core before staying expensive for a long time.

Signing Sexton to a large new deal would eat into that space, making it even less likely the Cavs would make a strong offer to Sexton. If they can bring him back at $13.33 million per season, they still have near-max space and can easily make more or add talent.

That also means they don’t mind as much if Sexton threatens to take his qualifying offer. That would mean he can walk for nothing next summer, but it also means the Cavs merely get all of that salary slot as cap room. The right player would be worth slashing that space, but they don’t seem to see Sexton as worth it.

Will it change? It might, depending on what happens with key max-level players around the league who are currently on track to become free agents next summer. If players like Andrew Wiggins, Khris Middleton or especially LeBron James agree to contract extensions in the coming weeks, the Cavs’ goal of maintaining max space may become less important.