Philadelphia 76ers: Keep an eye on Collin Sexton and the Cavaliers

There was a time in the not-too-distant past where the Draft Lottery day was the most anticipated day on many a Philadelphia 76ers fan’s calendar.

Would the team land the first overall pick and the sort of generational talent capable of pushing their process along, or would the pick instead come up short and leave Philly stranded with a Jahlil Okafor-type player who would get flipped for a second-round pick a few seasons down the line?

It was like Christmas and a birthday all rolled into one, and as such holidays often go, it would often end up being more disappointing than not.

Fortunately, that yearly scheduled dose of anxiety is no longer an issue for your friendly neighborhood Philadelphia 76ers; not for the foreseeable future anyway. For better or worse, the Sixers have their Big 3 in place and will largely be looking to improve on the margins barring any sort of massive, roster-altering trade of one existing star for another (or an analogous package).

But what about the teams who have been sniffing around the lottery for a few years now but don’t have any All-Star-level talent to show for it? What happens when your homegrown star leaves home for the bright lights of Tinseltown, and you enter a three-year rebuild with nothing much to show for it? Fortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers are about to give fans of the NBA both foreign and domestic a chance to see what happens when a franchise gets antsy.

Could the Philadelphia 76ers make a move with Cleveland this summer?

More from Section 215

Collin Sexton is a tough player to quantify.

A sparkplug shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body, Sexton is an ascending scorer, albeit one who has exclusively done so as the primary offensive option on a trio of really bad teams, and the sort of player who will constantly punch above his weight class due to a tireless work ethic.

He’s also a bad defender, an incomplete shooter, and the sort of ball-dominant combo guard who can turn into an offensive black hole in an undisciplined offense.

Is a 22-year-old who averages 24 points, 4.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and a steal per game splitting his time between the one and two guard slots worth the sort of extension his management will surely be after – south of a max contract but not by much – or would it make more sense to ship him out for a cost-controlled asset on a long-term deal moving forward?

That, my friends, is a fascinating question; one made all the more intriguing by the team’s reported willingness to move off of the third-overall pick in favor of some established talent.

Hmm… so you’re telling me the Cavs have an excellent pick, a promising young player, and a few veteran players to match salaries. Are there any young, multiple-time All-Stars who are on a trade block right now?

Now sure, could the Cavs conceivably come out and trade Sexton straight up independently of any draft day dealings? Most definitely. While I doubt they’d be willing to take on a pick in the late 20s for his services, maybe some team like the San Antonio Spurs could swoop in and secure his services for a package centered around the 12th overall pick and a young player like Keldon Johnson.

But think about it; why would the Cavs say yes to that package? Why would they surrender a 19-year-old firecracker like Jalen Green for a player much later in the lottery for nothing more than another 21-year-old prospect? How does that get the Cavs back into the playoffs, let alone on a path back to legitimate relevance?

No, if Cleveland GM Koby Altman is serious about fielding a contender once more, he needs to land an All-Star to build around moving forward, maybe even one with a similar skill set to their franchise’s all-time best player.

Assuming a third team doesn’t come into the fray, the best package the Cavaliers could realistically offer for Ben Simmons is Sexton, the third-overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and the contract of either Larry Nance Jr. or Kevin Love. While it’s anyone’s guess if Rich Paul would allow such a deal to go down, as he notoriously has a poor relationship with the Cavs’ ownership group, his client would fit the bill of what Cleveland is looking for both now and moving forward. Pair Simmons up with Darius Garland and either Nance Jr. or Love, and you have a solid foundation in place from which to build the perfect team that highlights number 25’s strengths in a way Philly simply can’t (more on that here).

Would it be a bitter pill to end up shipping Simmons out for a package headlined by Sexton and the ghost of Mie Love’s nephew? Many would justifiably make that claim, but considering the current trade market, it shouldn’t be outright rejected without some serious consideration either. The main goal of this offseason has to be landing a scorer who can pair up with Joel Embiid, and you could do a whole lot worse than Sexton and Green long term.

Next. A dozen teams would build around Ben Simmons. dark

No matter how much it may get old, trade rumors around Ben Simmons aren’t going away anytime soon; until such a trade actually goes down. We’ll hear how things are reportedly going on behind the scenes, how some darkhorse team is readying a massive offer, and how a specific team is preparing to move pieces around to make… something happen. Could the Cleveland Cavaliers ultimately be the team that blows the Philadelphia 76ers’ socks off and wins the Ben Simmons sweepstakes? Eh, I wouldn’t put money on it, but considering their recent activities, I also wouldn’t write it off outright either. Chalk this one up as good food for thought.