Cavs Make Offer, But Remain At Standstill With Collin Sexton

July 25, 2022

It seems the Cavaliers are playing hardball in their contract talks with Collin Sexton, but its only hardball if you think their offer is unfair.

Right now, it’s hard to tell what Sexton’s camp thinks of it.

Apparently, the Cavs have indeed made an offer to Sexton, a restricted free agent. Per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, that offer is for three years and nearly $40 million.

Now, the Cavs will wait for Sexton to either a) outright accept it; or b) take an offer from another team, and then decide to match. Neither has happened. Right now, the interest on Sexton seems to be low, especially with cap space limited across the league.

As Fedor noted, interest in Sexton “vanished quickly” during the NBA Draft. That would seem to be true, given the silence surrounding Sexton’s free agency. We’re now a month into it, and there’s not been a single peep outside of Cleveland.

That said, sources have told Hoops Wire the Jazz’s interest in Sexton is high, and they intend to make him their Plan A, but only after they decide what to do with Donovan Mitchell.

The Heat are another team with interest, though their focus remains on landing either Nets star Kevin Durant or Mitchell. Sexton would be a major Miami target, however, in the event Durant and Mitchell stay put or are oved elsewhere, sources said.

Sexton, 23, appeared in just 11 games last season before suffering a torn MCL. At the time, he was averaging a team-best 16.0 points. He averaged 24.3 points in 2020-21.

He is represented by Rich Paul, the Cleveland product who also represents the likes of LeBron James, Zach LaVine, Draymond Green and, of course, Cavs All-Star Darius Garland.

It is believed Garland wants Sexton back in Cleveland next season.

If Sexton doesn’t want the Cavs’ offer, another option would be to accept their qualifying offer — which would pay him $7.2 million next season, then make him an unrestricted free agent in 2023.

He has an Oct. 1 deadline to decide on a qualifying offer, and it may take every bit that long before we see a resolution.