The Cleveland Cavaliers took care of most of their offseason business in one fell swoop. In the first few days of NBA Free Agency they agreed to contracts with three veteran players for next season and on a max-rookie extension for All-Star point guard Darius Garland to kick in next summer.
The one move that is still outstanding is re-signing Collin Sexton. Sexton is a restricted free agent after the two sides did not come to an agreement last fall on an extension, a move that looks pretty good from the Cavs’ side at this point. With most notable free agents signed and very few teams still with cap space, Sexton’s options are dwindling.
News finally broke on the negotiations, and it was not positive for Sexton and his camp. Per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, the Cavs have reportedly offered a three-year contract worth $40 million ($$) to the young shooting guard. That’s a far cry from the four-year, $100 million deal he was negotiating for last fall.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Collin Sexton are still far apart on a deal. Why is the reported offer from the Cavs so much lower than Sexton wants?
That number seems jarringly low for what many expected; it would come out to $13.33 million per season. Why has the market for Sexton gone down so much, and why would the Cavs only offer $40 million to Sexton? Let’s look at three factors in setting the Cavs’ offer and whether any of those factors might change in the coming weeks.
3 reasons Cavs offered Collin Sexton a small deal: Cavs hold the leverage
In any negotiation, from an athlete’s contract to a hostage situation, you have to analyze which parties have the leverage. In the case of Collin Sexton and the Cavs, the team holds nearly all of it, which could make for a difficult situation for Sexton.
The market for Sexton has dissipated, if not outright disappeared. Only two teams have enough cap space to offer him a deal more than the Cavs’ $13.33 million per season: the Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs. Both teams are flush with guards and truly don’t have much of a spot for Sexton, whatever the price. Other teams without cap space could try to work out a sign-and-trade for Sexton, but Cleveland has little reason to play ball with a team who can’t sign him without their help.
Sexton is coming off a knee injury that could slow his play to start the season. He has been eclipsed significantly in the Cavs’ plans, especially by the rise of All-Star Darius Garland. They have other options at shooting-guard. They’re holding the cards.
Sexton could threaten to sign his qualifying offer and hit unrestricted free agency next summer, but that’s an outcome the Cavs would likely be fine with too as they evaluate his fit with the team. Sometimes players hit free agency with the leverage, but all too often restricted free agents instead find themselves squeezed with little recourse.
Will it change? Probably not; barring a blockbuster trade shaking free some space for him, it’s unlikely another team will sign him to an offer sheet. Sexton’s one hope here is that the Pacers or Spurs decide to do Rich Paul, Sexton’s agent, a favor and sign him to a slightly higher contract the Cavs are likely to match.
3 reasons Cavs offered Collin Sexton a small deal: Cavs see him as a bench player
Darius Garland is the same size as Collin Sexton at 6’1″ and is a much better fit at the point guard position. His passing has taken a major step forward and his knockdown shooting makes him a potent threat. Playing him at the 1 limits the negative impact of his defensive limitations.
Playing Sexton at the 2 alongside Garland would exacerbate those defensive issues, as Sexton has not proven to be any better of a defender. Those issues could possibly be counterbalanced by the offensive force of the two together, but thus far Sexton has been something of a floor-raiser who hasn’t elevated his team towards winning. He plays hard, but his offensive impact hasn’t been proven outside of his own scoring.
Cleveland instead appears to view Sexton as a much better fit coming off of the bench. They traded for Caris LeVert and drafted Ochai Agbaji as presumably their long-term starters on the wing, and if they re-sign Sexton would bring him off the bench as a Sixth Man, a one-two punch with Kevin Love, and insulated defensively by playing alongside either Ricky Rubio or Raul Neto. If he’s a bench player, the Cavs’ price point for him will be much lower.
Will it change? No, certainly not this summer without Sexton proving something with his play on the court. He needs to prove, somehow and somewhere, that he can help a team win and not simply get his own – that’s not a knock on his selfishness, but the reality of what his game has produced so far.
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.