Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The team first announced Sexton’s injury on November 8, but there was no recovery timeline mentioned at the time. Now we know he’ll miss the remainder of the season.
It’s a devastating blow for the fourth-year guard, who’s eligible to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season. The Cavs were reportedly interested in a long-term contract with Sexton, but missing the rest of the season will hurt his leverage in negotiations.
Sexton had been quite healthy his first three seasons; he played in all 82 games as a rookie, all 65 of the team’s games in his second season, and 60 out of 72 games last season.
The eighth overall pick in 2018, Sexton was the Cavaliers’ leading scorer in each of the last two seasons, having put up a career-best 24.3 PPG in 60 games in 2020/21 with a solid .475/.371/.815 shooting line. He was off to a slower start this season, with his shooting line dipping to .453/.244/.744, but his 16.0 PPG is still the second-highest mark on the team, only trailing the 17.8 PPG of point guard Darius Garland.
Obviously it’s bad news for the Cavs as well, who are very undermanned at the moment. Rookie Evan Mobley, who looked like a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year, will miss the next two-to-four weeks with a right elbow sprain. Kevin Love just returned from a bout of COVID-19, while Lauri Markkanen is working his way back to shape after battling the virus. Starting center Jarrett Allen has missed the past three games as well with a non-COVID illness, so the Cavs have been without four of their five original starters the past two games.
The Cavs started the season 9-5 (7-4 with Sexton), but have lost their last three games and now sit at 9-8. Their next game is Monday, Nov. 22 against Brooklyn.
With Sexton on the shelf, Cleveland has leaned more heavily on Garland and veteran point guard Ricky Rubio, with Dylan Windler and Denzel Valentine receiving rotation minutes in recent games. Second-year wing Isaac Okoro has also seen heavy minutes since returning from injury.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), the Cavs could eligible for a disabled player exception worth approximately $3.2MM (roughly half of Sexton’s salary) if Sexton is deemed likely to be out through June 15th.
Marks also relays that the Cavs are currently $3.1MM below the luxury tax threshold and have no open roster spots. Using a disabled player exception does not free up a roster spot, and if used, it counts against the cap. So, even if they were granted a DPE, there’s certainly no guarantee the Cavs would actually use it.
Noooo!! That dude works so hard, for him to miss the season, especially in his contract year…man I just feel for him.
yea this sucks he was hooping
Really sucks for him. Not sure what kind of contract he was going to get, but this will drastically reduce it.
Wouldn’t be shocked to see him sign a 1+1 or something similar and try and recoup his value next season.
Seemed like his market was already light even before the injury.
He must be so mad. I feel for him and cavs fans like you, he was hoopin. Not even gonna speculate where the cavs go from here, just sorry he is gone as a fan of the game.
Isn’t that a pretty long time table for a meniscus tear? Must’ve been a pretty bad one.
Sucks for Sexton. Horrible timing.
The timelines for meniscus tears vary a lot depending on how they’re treated. It sounds like Sexton is going the Jaren Jackson Jr. route and getting a full repair. This is what Zach Kleiman said about Jackson’s recovery earlier this year:
“When Jaren first tore his meniscus there are kind of two routes you can take. You can either do what’s called a meniscectomy, where you shave down or trim the meniscus, and you can be back in a couple of months. But at that point you lose the protective function of the meniscus. It leads to swelling and soreness and recurring knee issues over time.
“What we did with Jaren, with his long-term health in mind and everyone on the same page of taking the long view, was to repair his meniscus. The surgeon went in and was thankfully able to repair 100% of his meniscus. But, a full repair of a meniscus often times takes up to eight months or nine months.”
Thanks for the info! Vaguely what I had figured.
Wow. That’s a major league suck. Feel bad for the kid. Ironic how a guy with decent but not spectacular numbers with a really bad injury history gets the bag (Michael Porter Jr). But the guy with a perhaps more solid track record and history of health, doesn’t get the bag and gets injured? Sucks for both guys but at least MPJ doesn’t have to stress about his future
Interesting comp. I was surprised MPJ got the max and it already looks dubious.
Granted there were exigent circumstances (Porter’s ceiling is higher, Denver has title aspirations), but still—
Personally I thought Sexton was a little underrated. Will be interesting to see where he lands next yr.
Coby White can be had for a six pack and some hot dog buns.
Kevin Love and an unprotected 1st for CJ McCollum, done deal.
If you want something good, You have to toss in something useful. One could argue Love has never been useful in any way. Good luck trying to trade that lump of coal.
‘Unprotected’ picks are like drunk virgins to Wooderson. Once there’s a new GM in Portland he’ll see that and it’s alright alright alright.
Yeah, one could argue that Kevin has never been useful. But you are the only “one” that is making that argument. The dude is 5 time all-star with a chip to his name. What a ridiculous comment man.
@Unclemike.
Such an odd statement. Obviously, when asked to play behind Lebron and Kyrie, his numbers dropped. But before that the guy was a easy 25/10/4 guy. Now. he’s obviously not the same. He’s a good option for a team with other star players like Gsw, LA, or other young designers
They played better without him
Wow.
The changes things.
Sexton was willing to accept less than the max, apparently wanted a 4year 100mil offer.
Cavs turned him down.
Then reports came out it’s cause they wanted to sign him for 5 years, but only 5 year deal you can offer is the max, which doesn’t make any sense.
Now they will have to think long and hard, what is sexton worth, cause come FA he WILL get a max offer and Cavs will have to match to keep him or lose him for nothing.
Prediction:
He either gets a max with the Cavs or he gets sign and traded for just below the max. Sexton takes less than the max (which is on offer) in order to choose where he wants to go and the Cavs can get something back for him.
Similar deal to Jaylen Brown but sign and traded to a team like Portland for McCollum
Very wild prediction but say Portland miss the playoffs for the first time in 9 seasons.
Then Dame does demand a trade knowing the team isn’t getting better.
Portland goes for a rebuild, trades McCollum for Sexton in a sign and trade.
Sends Lillard to the Sixers for Ben Simmons, Mattise Thybulle and 3 first round picks.
They also have decisions to make with Nurkic and Covington on expiring deals.
Come end of the season they draft Patrick Baldwin Jr 10th overall with their own pick and take Roko Prkacin with the Sixers pick.
Sexland is now Rubland
Not a Sexton guy. And it’s good news it wasn’t a more serious injury. He should be back at full strength. I wouldn’t sign him unless it’s to trade him. Now getting Rubio will pay off big time. Rubio a vet. Will help usher in the Bigs era in Cleveland. Both will benefit from Rubio getting PT. I still see Love bringing back talent. A contender will make a move for Love by TD.
Sexton has a qualifying offer next yr of 8.5 mill. Then he will get his FA contract. Meniscus is not a ligament. He should be back strong. He’ll get his contract eventually. Even if it’s after next yr. But like I said. Why would you want him now. When Garland is playing like a true all star PG ( 19.1 pts, 7.3 ast ) and solid defense.