- Damon Jones’ grateful response to LeBron James naming him one of the best shooters he’s ever played with
- Report: Rajon Rondo allegedly threatened to kill his former partner and pulled a gun on her
- Report: J.B. Bickerstaff and Koby Altman have discussed a potential change to the Cavs coaching staff
- Cavs insider indicates Rich Paul is expected to pursue extension in $180M range for Darius Garland
- Dan Gilbert’s confident statement regarding Koby Altman after he misses out on Executive of the Year
- Report: Kyrie Irving wanted LeBron James-like control with Brooklyn Nets
- Here’s how close Cavs exec Koby Altman came to winning Executive of the Year honors
- Darius Garland explains why it hurt so much that the Cavs didn’t make the playoffs this season
- Video: Kyrie Irving lashes out during GTA Twitch stream, calls other players ‘cockroaches’
- Report: 2 former Cavs big men open to returning to franchise
Collin Sexton Believes He and Darius Garland Can Be Next Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum
- Updated: June 21, 2019

All the chatter about the Cleveland Cavaliers possibly trading the No. 5 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft on Thursday night never materialized.
That’s because they believe that they could have a backcourt that could one day approximate the successes of the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.
In other words, the Cavs selected Darius Garland fifth overall in the hopes of pairing him with Collin Sexton, the team’s lottery pick last year, to form a duo that looks like the Eastern Conference version of Lillard and McCollum.
The Athletic’s Joe Vardon reported that general manager Koby Altman had a conversation with Sexton, who envisioned himself and Garland playing successful basketball together:
14. Altman said he spoke to Sexton, too, about possibly adding Garland. The conversation apparently took place Thursday, before the draft began. Altman said Sexton studied the Portland Trail Blazers’ run to the Western Conference finals — steered by, ahem, two smaller, scoring guards in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
15. “He brought that up, said ‘that could be us,’” Altman said. “Darius relished the opportunity as well. When we knew those two were on board, it made it a lot easier.”
Sexton and Garland are both 6-foot-2, which is not that far off from the Blazers’ 6-foot-3 backcourt mates. If they can somehow mask their defensive deficiencies, it’s not that difficult imagining the Cavs having couple of special guards with explosive potential.
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