Coming off last season’s injury-shortened campaign, guard Collin Sexton is showing many signs of being fully recovered and ready to contribute on the court.
Chris Fedor, the co-host of the “Wine and Gold Talk” podcast, spoke about Sexton’s success in offseason action and continued stalemate with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Everybody that I’ve talked to that has seen him throughout the course of this offseason — he looks fast,” said Fedor. “He looks explosive. He’s getting buckets. So he’s continuing to put in the work.”
Sexton’s 2021-22 season came to an abrupt end after just 11 games because of injury. The timing of that issue came when he was hoping to build on his first three years in hopes of obtaining a lucrative contract extension.
During his relatively brief NBA career, Sexton has developed into a solid scorer who can offer contributions during his time on the court. In his four years as a member of the Cavs, he’s averaged 20.0 points, 3.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game.
The contract issues between Sexton and the Cavaliers stem from a stark difference in his perceived value. Sexton is reportedly looking for a new deal that would pay him around $80 million over the course of the contract while the Cavaliers are believed to be offering less than half that amount.
Sexton could conceivably sign the qualifying offer the Cavaliers have made. From a short-term perspective, that would mean even less money this season than the Cavs are offering.
However, it would mean that Sexton would be an unrestricted free agent next summer, a scenario the Cavaliers probably want to avoid.
Of course, Sexton’s impressive offseason efforts need to translate into similar output when the regular season starts. If that happens, his efforts could pay off big in 2023.
