It’s Time For Collin Sexton To Return To Relevance

Just over two years ago, Collin Sexton was averaging over 24 points per game for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and doing so on a variety of drives, three-pointers, and foul shots.

At 6’1, Sexton was ultimately deemed too small to pair with Darius Garland – who the Cavs preferred to retain – in the backcourt. After playing just 11 games in 2021-2022 due to a meniscus tear, Sexton’s Cavs tenure was over, and he was traded to Utah in the trade that brought Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland via a sign-and-trade agreement which fetched him $71 million over four years.

Sexton played 48 games for Utah last year, putting up a modest 14.3 points per game, primarily off the bench. It likely wasn’t the return to the floor the explosive scorer was hoping for, given how he used to be a full-time starter, and one of the better offensive producers in the league.

However, Utah has become a bit of a reclamation project. In the same trade that brought over Sexton was another player – Lauri Markkanen – who turned in an All-Star performance.

This summer the organization also traded for John Collins, who had been on a downwards trajectory in Atlanta for years, hoping to rekindle his career by giving him a proper chance.

For Sexton, there’s merit in giving him similar room to return to where he used to be. The Jazz may not need him to score 24 points per game due to quality of the roster around him, but they do need elements of what Sexton offers, such as drawing fouls.

Utah was a middle-of-the-pack team in both free throw attempts, and makes. Sexton has historically been strong at getting to the line, and generated 4.1 attempts per night – second on the team behind Markkanen – in just 23.9 minutes per game.

The Jazz, like any other team, also puts a premium on efficiency. Sexton, despite a continuous label as a poor shooter, converted on over 50% from the field, and over 39% from three-point range. He’s hit 38% of them in his career, and is closing in on 1,000 attempts. The data suggests a team can trust Sexton to make outside shots, even if he is mostly open on said attempts.

Finally, the Jazz find themselves in a weird spot when it comes to the point guard position. Despite have several guards on the roster, including Sexton, Kris Dunn, Jordan Clarkson, and Talen Horton-Tucker, no one seems the obvious selection as the sure-fire starter.

Dunn is the most experienced point guard, and had a productive 22-game sample size to close the year. But that’s just it. 22 games. He’s historically had issues as a starter, and the Jazz simply cannot rely on 22 games as any sort of indication about the future.

Horton-Tucker is not entirely dissimilar from Dunn, but mostly as the off-guard version. He’s not much of a shooter, offers terrific defensive upside, but doesn’t seem capable of running an offense as a full-time table setter.

That leaves Clarkson, who ironically isn’t dissimilar to Sexton in the sense that both are score-first players, who aren’t natural leaders or playmakers.

For Sexton to win the job, he’ll need to show head coach Will Hardy an ability to balance shot-taking with playmaking. Sexton has point guard history from his days in Cleveland, but he was clearly better when moved into a higher scoring role.

Hardy will use training camp to determine who starts at the point, which is where Sexton must shine, if he wants a Markkanen-esque season to return to NBA relevance.

Or, alternatively, Sexton could go a simpler route.

He could pull Hardy aside and offer to relinquish any desire of starting in return for a bench role that’s tailored to let him do what he does best: Produce points.

This means playing more minutes than last year, and having the secondary rotation catered his game. As a former high-end scorer, who used to put up over 24 points primarily against starters, Sexton could pivot into a supersub role where elements such as efficiency and volume factors in greatly to Utah’s schemes.

Whatever the path, Sexton should be hoping for a major year.

Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.