NBA free agency: Cavaliers make Collin Sexton three-year offer, but he's unlikely to take it, per report
NBA free agency: Cavaliers make Collin Sexton three-year offer, but he's unlikely to take it, per report
A year ago, Collin Sexton looked like a potential max player. He'd just averaged 24.3 points per game in his third NBA season, and with Evan Mobley inbound, it wasn't hard to imagine him at the front of a Cavaliers renaissance. Instead, he suffered a torn meniscus and missed most of the season. Darius Garland supplanted him as Cleveland's primary ball-handler, and the Cavaliers made it back to the postseason without him.
Now Sexton's future is up in the air. As a restricted free agent, he has been sitting on the open market for nearly a month without a strong offer. Coming into the offseason, reports indicated that he'd hoped for a $20 million per year deal. None has materialized. Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor reported on the Wine & Gold Talk Podcast that the Cavaliers do have an offer on the table to retain Sexton, but it's not one that he is likely to accept. According to Fedor, Cleveland's current offer is roughly $40 million over three seasons.
Such a deal would pay Sexton above the mid-level exception, but it would be far below what a point guard of his ilk makes. An average salary of $13.3 million per year would make Sexton the 30th-highest-paid point guard in the NBA behind players like Markelle Fultz and Tyus Jones. Neither has accomplished nearly as much as an individual player.
But the rules of restricted free agency severely limited Sexton's market when free agency began. Cleveland reserves the right to match any offer made to Sexton, and they'd have two full days to do it, so no team with cap space was going to risk taking themselves out of the early free agency derby for a player they might not be able to secure. Now only two teams with cap space remain: the Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs. Unless one of them makes Sexton an offer, a sign-and-trade is his only way out of Cleveland at the moment.
An alternative for Sexton would be to sign the one-year qualifying offer Cleveland had to make him in order to retain his restricted rights. Doing so would make him an unrestricted free agent next offseason, free to sign with whatever team he chooses. It wouldn't be a perfect option, but right now, there isn't much more on the table for Cleveland's young guard.
Warriors' top offseason addition is actually James Wiseman, whose ask and expectations have been simplified
People seem to have given up on or forgotten about 2020's second overall pick
After making his 2022 Summer League debut, James Wiseman got a delectable taste of the Golden State Warriors' unique version of the old "good cop-bad cop" routine. Wiseman, who hasn't played in an NBA game in over 15 months due, put up 11 points and two blocks in Las Vegas, his first action since a three-game G League stint in March that ended with knee swelling that shut him down for the rest of the season.
A pretty good return, except for one not-so-tiny problem.
Wiseman, who is listed at 7-foot, 240 pounds and looked to have added even more lean muscle since the last time we saw him, pulled down just two rebounds in the game. Afterward, he heard from two of the most prominent voices in the Warriors locker room, but he received two very different messages.
In typical nice-guy fashion, Steph Curry texted Wiseman with words of encouragement: "He just told me, 'It feels good just to see you back out there playing,'" Wiseman told reporters.
Draymond Green, in his typical tell-it-like-it-is fashion, took to his now-infamous podcast for a proverbial airing of Summer League grievances: "Wise, you can't have two rebounds. ... I would never excuse James Wiseman having two rebounds, nor do I think James Wiseman would excuse it."
And there, in a nutshell, you have the Curry-Green leadership dynamic (I'm purposely avoiding Green-Curry here to prevent a subconscious craving for Thai food) that has produced four championships and six NBA Finals appearances in eight seasons. Wiseman received both messages loud and clear, and set out to get himself back into Green's good graces in his ensuing games.
"I was listening to [Green's podcast] while I was eating. I was like, aw, f---, I gotta get seven to 10 rebounds," Wiseman said. "I can't settle for two because I'm 7-1, I'm tall, so I gotta make sure I be aggressive down there. I can't just get pushed around and stuff, so I gotta make sure I take that personal. … [Green's] the OG, so I gotta most definitely take that personal, for sure."
Sure enough, Wiseman pulled down seven rebounds in his next game, followed by seven and six, respectively, in his final two Summer League outings. The numbers are pretty impressive considering he was capped at around 20 minutes per game, not to mention the fact that he hadn't played in over five months.
Overall, Wiseman averaged 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in four Summer League games. Most importantly, he said that his troublesome knee feels so good that he's "not even worried" about it anymore.
It's one thing for Wiseman to snag rebounds with nobody around him, but he also showed a tenacity to fight for offensive boards in traffic to get his team extra possessions. He came away with these two rebounds thanks to multiple efforts that the Warriors brass and his teammates surely noticed.
Both Green and Warriors Summer League coach Jama Mahlalela, who was recently promoted to a comfy padded folding chair at the front of the bench to fill the vacancy left by new Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown, talked about the importance of timing and rhythm when it comes to rebounding -- areas in which Wiseman would suffer after his lengthy absence from competitive basketball.
Mahlalela also didn't mince words when it came to the focus for Wiseman this summer and into training camp.
"Without question, James Wiseman's number one attribute for us next season will be his defense. He's going to rebound the ball, firstly, and his ability to sort of alter shots at the rim and be a good rim protector. Those are the two areas we're really focusing in on, and that's what's gonna get him on the floor for the Warriors. His offense will come, it's sort of a work in progress, young player, as it is for many of our young guys. But the defensive side is where we're gonna put more time."
Play defense and rebound. Don't worry about scoring. Must be strange to hear for a player who was selected second overall just two years ago, particularly one whose offensive skill set was arguably his most tantalizing feature. Wiseman was billed as a potential unicorn -- as trite as that term has become -- a big man who could put the ball on the floor, stretch to the 3-point line and initiate offense in the half-court. We didn't see much of that in the 39 games he played his rookie year, and it sounds like the defending champs aren't interested in putting it on display next season either.
Instead, they've opted to simplify things for Wiseman, who is still just barely past the legal drinking age. As great as the Warriors were defensively last season -- second fewest points allowed per 100 possessions in the NBA -- they lacked a traditional big man and rim protector. They were able to piece together solid defense around the rim (11th in the league, per Synergy Sports) thanks to otherworldly effort and intelligence from the 6-6 Green and 6-9 Kevon Looney. Mixing in a true 7-footer who can play drop coverage to prevent shots around the rim would give the Warriors yet another impressive defensive look.
This offseason Golden State acquired potentially crucial pieces in Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green, but their most important "addition" -- the one many seem to be forgetting about or ignoring -- is Wiseman, whose mission this summer and throughout next season is to become an elite rim protector and a rebounding machine.
So far so good, as Wiseman blocked eight shots in four games in Las Vegas, showing good instincts and verticality as a weak side defender.
For what it's worth, Wiseman is saying all the right things about buying into his new role. That's a lot easier to do when your team just won a championship without you and still has the two best shooting tandem in NBA history combined with a one-of-a-kind, hyper-intelligent point forward to carry the offense.
"I'm really just working on just my verticality, my rim protection and, really, just my rebounding," Wiseman said during Summer League. "I'm not worried about scoring like that, because that's gonna come with time. I'm really just worried about stuff that's actually gonna get me on the floor when I play in the NBA. Just focusing on the little things."
Wiseman seemed enthusiastic and engaged while speaking to the media in Vegas, particularly notable since he's in a situation where some former No. 2 picks would be moping because they even had to return to run. It was important for him to play his fourth game on the team's final day of Summer League, to get past a specific mental hurdle.
Wiseman played only three games in college before withdrawing from Memphis. He played only three games with the Santa Cruz Warriors this past spring before being shut down due to a knee setback. And while some were ready to leave, or had already left, Wiseman was eager to get on the court for that fourth game.
"It's a huge milestone because I haven't played in like a whole year and a half. Being a hooper, that's kind of hard mentally," Wiseman said of playing in four games this summer. "Just to be out there and just to be playing again, I'm super blessed just to have the opportunity."
Wiseman is a crucial part of the youth regime in Golden State that has been enlisted to bridge the gap from the Big Three to the potential key-holders of the next Warriors dynasty. We've already seen Jordan Poole impact winning on the biggest stage, and team brass expect Wiseman to one day follow his lead -- along with Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, who also participated in Summer League. While Poole, Kuminga and Moody will likely get a shot at heavy rotation minutes this season, Wiseman's role is less predictable.
Looney will likely be the starting center and Warriors coach Steve Kerr might lean toward veteran JaMychal Green as the main backup big, while Draymond Green will, of course, see a handful of minutes at the five every game. Wiseman could be relegated to situational minutes based on matchups to start the season, and he has to be satisfied with that as he develops and gets his conditioning back.
Given everything he's said and the way that he's played so far, Wiseman will be happy with any role the Warriors want to give him, as long as it means getting back on the court. Now that he's healthy, both Wiseman and the Warriors are giddy to see exactly what the fruits of his labor will be.
"He can now actually do development work and not do rehab work. That's a fundamentally different thing for him," Mahlalela said of Wiseman. "We're just, as a coaching staff and organizationally, excited for that process -- for him to learn and grow, and come into training camp a different player because he's actually had a summer where he can work."
Five underrated NBA free agent signings, including Blazers landing Gary Payton II, T.J. Warren to Nets
These players aren't necessarily big names, but they could have a big impact
Some NBA free agency moves are so obviously impactful that they immediately alter the league's landscape. Think Kevin Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors back in 2016. You knew right away that that was a major move. Not all signings are like this, though. Some fly under the radar a bit at first, but still prove to be substantial in time. We're going to look at the latter type here.
Here's a look at five underrated free agent signings from this summer that could ultimately prove to be very impactful for their respective squads.
There's so much uncertainty in Brooklyn right now following Kevin Durant's recent trade request that it's tough to predict exactly what the Nets roster or rotation might look like on opening night. Nonetheless, T.J. Warren was a solid pickup for the Nets. Warren has missed all but four games over the last two seasons due to injury issues, so it's easy to overlook him at this point, but the dude can score. The last time he played a full season in 2019-20 he averaged nearly 20 points per game (19.8), while also adding 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 53 percent from the floor and 40 percent from long range.
If the Nets end up running it back with Durant and Kyrie Irving next season, then Warren will be able to provide some ancillary scoring around those guys and take some of the load off their shoulders on the offensive end. If those two are gone, Warren is capable of taking on a larger role on the offensive end, as he's a guy capable of generating his own offense. Either way, he's a legitimate offensive option that the Nets were able to get at a very reasonable rate (one year, $2.6 million). They just have to hope he can remain healthy.
Dragic, 36, is clearly in the twilight of his career, but he still has a little bit left in the tank, as he showed with the Nets last season. In 16 regular-season games with Brooklyn at the end of the season, Dragic averaged 7.3 points, 4.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game -- solid production for a backup.
In Chicago, Dragic will join a backcourt that already includes Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, so it's tough to predict exactly how big his role will be, but it's never a bad thing to have an experienced veteran in your locker room, especially for a team like the Bulls who are hoping to contend in a competitive Eastern Conference. Dragic is a proven hand at an important position. Plus, he'll serve as insurance of sorts, as Ball is still dealing with a knee injury that kept him sidelined for a large chunk of last season.
Dragic is a relatively cheap investment with no long-term commitment, which could prove to be very valuable. It's a low-risk, relatively high-reward move for the Bulls, and those often prove prudent. It wouldn't be shocking to see Dragic have a legitimate impact at some point for Chicago.
Young Glove made a major impact for the Golden State Warriors last season by being the guy who did the dirty work, and he has the potential to do the same thing in Portland. Need the opposing team's perimeter player slowed down? Payton II can do that. Need a timely rebound? Payton II will go get it for you. Need someone to knock down an open 3? Payton proved capable of doing that, too -- he shot nearly 36 percent from long range last season.
As a defensive-oriented guard that doesn't necessarily need the ball in his hands or plays called for him to be effective, Payton II projects to fit swimmingly in Portland's backcourt alongside the likes of Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons. Payton II has never averaged more than 17 minutes per game in a season, but that will likely change in Portland, and if his playing time increases, his production -- and impact -- will likely follow suit.
Danuel House isn't a star player -- far from it. But his size, versatility and ability to space the floor with his shot will immediately address some major needs for Philadelphia. At 6'6" House has the size to play three different positions for the Sixers -- on both ends of the floor -- and because of that, he represents an upgrade over the other reserve perimeter options that the team had last season.
Plus, as a career 36 percent shooter from long range, he's a guy that opposing defenses won't be able to cheat off of in order to apply additional pressure on Joel Embiid or James Harden. For those reasons, House was an ideal addition for Philadelphia at the price they got him at (two years, $8.5 million). He could end up playing a large role for the Sixers next season.
Fresh off of helping the Golden State Warriors hang another banner, Otto Porter Jr. is taking his talents to Toronto, where he projects to fit in nicely as a rotational perimeter player. With guys like Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher, Thaddeus Young and OG Anunoby, the Raptors are a team with extreme length and versatility on the defensive end, and at 6'8" Porter Jr. fits right into that mold. Plus, he's more than capable on the offensive end, where he's averaged over 10.6 points per game and shot nearly 40 percent (39.8) over the course of his career. For a team looking to contend in the East, Porter Jr. is an ideal pickup, especially at the relatively reasonable rate of $12.3 million over two seasons.
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