Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton entered the summer seeking upwards of $20 million per season for his new contract, while the Cavs are offering $40 million over three years, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com said on the Zach Lowe podcast.
Sources have told Hoops Wire that negotiations between Sexton and the Cavs have not been contentious — but a fairly large gap remains. An agreement is not expected to be reached anytime soon, sources predicted.
Sexton is a restricted free agent, meaning the Cavs can match any offer from another team and keep him. But for Sexton, no other offers have been floated, and we’re more than a month into free agency.
The Jazz are closely monitoring the Sexton situation, and the Wizards are among those with him on their radar, sources said. The Cavs want him back. For now, though, the Cavs’ philosophy appears to be this: “Here’s our offer. Go ahead and see if you can do better.”
If so, the Cavs would still probably match. But the bad news for Sexton is no other offers have come — and that’s how this game is played. It’s the business side of pro basketball. Sometimes, it can be a humbling experience.
Sexton led the Cavs in scoring at 16.0 points before being lost for the season to a torn MCL. He appeared in just 11 games.
In his absence, backcourt running-mate Darius Garland became an All-Star and the Cavs continued to compete for a playoff spot. The Cavs also traded for Caris LeVert, who plays Sexton’s position.
Theoretically, the Cavs will enter camp with LeVert as the starter and Sexton coming off the bench. But per Fedor, Sexton envisions himself as a starter — not a sixth man.
So it makes sense that a sign-and-trade centered on Sexton is still a possibility, as we relayed here. The Jazz are likely the top candidate in that scenario, though they appear focused on moving Donovan Mitchell first. Truth is, at this point, Sexton could end up anywhere.
The most likely landing spot is Cleveland. But in order for that to happen, clearly, there is still much work ahead.
You can keep up with all the latest on Sexton on our Cavs page.
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Is that true that Sexton envisions himself as a starter? 6th man on a contender which is probably what he is in his best role. Sounds like a good bet to assume he wants to not only be a starter but paid like one as a 6th man but also sounds like speculation by Fedor and others as if somehow he would not play a 6th man role if they compensated him like a starter after he was one all his career so far and despite no team success being a bad team around him he was theor best player. I say duh of course he envisions himself as a starter since he is a starting caliber player. The issue for Cleveland remains one where Levert is not an upgrade to Sexton defensively and is a downgrade to Sexton on offense but Sexton is unsigned and they gave up a first to get levert so they have to be sure the difference between what Sexton wants and Levert would get on a extension is to their advantage long term. I have the opinion Sexton is the far more appealing target despite being a little short for the 2 guard spot he can play on or off ball at a high level and if you give him the leys he can get a lot of buckets for you consistently and efficiently. Levert has never shown the ability to do anything reliably more than shooting his way in or out of trouble and getting a stop or two a game.
If I were Sexton I think knowing this org is pretty much in bed with Garland long term, I want close to that same kind of paycheck given I was far more impressive than Garland until I got hurt at the same time the team got better with offseason pick ups via trade and draft. Markannen healthy Love & Mobley in addition to when they had Allen and Rubio was when the most success came and was nothing like the teams Collin had to work with prior to it. That has to matter imo. Cavs want to pretend Sexton is a detriment to the offense then let him go prove them wrong for somebody else. he will probably win scoring title if that happens smh