Collin Sexton a restricted free agent after Cavaliers make qualifying offer
Jun. 28—The Cavaliers took care of business on June 28 by making a qualifying offer to Collin Sexton, and now the waiting begins.
The offer for a reported $8.6 million makes Sexton a restricted free agent, which means the Cavaliers now have the right to match any offer sheet Sexton signs from another team.
OFFICIAL: #Cavs extend qualifying offers to Collin Sexton and R.J. Nembhard
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) June 28, 2022
Free agency begins at 6 p.m. June 30.
The Cavaliers have said all along they would like Sexton to continue playing for them. Now it's just a matter of whether the two sides can reach common ground on a new contract. That might not happen if another team offers a deal of $20 million or more a year. It is believed the Cavaliers would be content paying Sexton in the neighborhood of $17 million a year.
"He's enormously important to us, he's been enormously important to us," Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman said in his season-ending news conference. "To lose him, you can see throughout the year why we missed him or how we missed him. We owe Collin a great debt of gratitude for what he's done, the work he's put in and he continues to put in. An important part of his team."
Sexton would have been an unrestricted free agent had the Cavaliers not made a qualifying offer before the 5 p.m. June 29 deadline. Had they not made the offer they would have relinquished the opportunity to match an offer from another team.
The Cavaliers were eliminated in the play-in tournament by the Atlanta Hawks on April 15. A day later, Sexton said he hopes a deal can be reached so he can stay in Cleveland. He endured the bad times and now that the team is heading in the right direction he wants to be part of it. The Cavaliers were 44-38 in 2021-22.
"I want to be here in Cleveland," Sexton said at the time. "I love the organization, love my teammates and whatever happens, I know that Cleveland was really good to me.
"I know this is the place that helped me get to where I am today and I know I want to continue to be a part of this winning culture. I feel like me just being able to be at the start of it helped us get to where we are right now."
The Cavaliers selected Sexton with the eighth pick of the 2018 draft shortly after the Cavs were swept by the Warriors in the NBA Finals that year.
LeBron James exited through free agency. The Cavaliers won 19, 19 and 22 games in Sexton's first three seasons.
Sexton had to be a spectator for most of the Cavaliers' turn-around last year. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 11th game of the season. He was averaging 28.7 minutes, 16 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.91 steals when he was injured in a game with the Knicks on Nov. 7 in Madison Square Garden.
Sexton made a brief appearance on June 27 at the West End Y in Willoughby for a basketball camp with his name attached to it. He did not wear a sleeve or brace on his injured knee, and though his handlers forbid the media from talking to him, Sexton recognized one reporter and said his knee felt fine.
The 23-year-old, 6-foot-1 guard from Alabama has averaged 20 points, 3 rebounds and 3.3 assists during four seasons with the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers also made a two-way qualifying offer to guard R.J. Nembhard, who averaged 24.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 38.4 minutes per game with the Canton Charge last season.
