After placing in a Top 100 Player Rankings not too long ago by The Action Network, the buzz continues to build around Utah Jazz guard Collin Sexton. The Ringer's Michael Pina called Sexton "the most underrated player in the NBA" in his "22 Increasingly Bold Predictions for the 2024-25 Season" article, but there was more to it than that.
Sexton was featured in Pina's 16th prediction, where the writer predicted that Sexton "will have a playoff moment."
For that to happen, Sexton would have to be traded knowing that the Jazz would have all sorts of trouble trying just to get in the play-in alone. Pina is aware of this and explained why Sexton is better off somewhere else.
"As a hyper-aggressive three-level scorer with playmaking chops and complete fearlessness attacking the basket, there’s a role for Sexton on a very good team," Pina wrote.
Pina then went on to name the Lakers, Clippers, Magic, and Spurs - all four of whom are aspiring playoff contenders this season - as potential landing spots for Sexton. He then concluded by explaining why Sexton may be worth a look-see for a winning team.
"Sexton can work in multiple settings, is on a nice contract that expires in 2026, and, at 25 years old, keeps getting better. He’s thrived in a mostly noncompetitive setting with the Jazz. It’d be interesting to see him try to do the same thing in games that actually matter."
All of Pina's points here are valid. For that reason, no one really knows what Sexton's future in Utah looks like. To be fair, he has embraced Utah since Day One, and has accepted every role the Jazz have given him, and now he's coming off a season where he took a legitimate step forward as a playmaker.
But it was all for a team that had every intention of losing from the second half of the season onward. All of that begs one question.
Did no one really want Collin Sexton this summer?
Sexton has never played for a playoff team, which is why his effectiveness remains somewhat in question until he does. Still, he's proven since entering the NBA that he can score, and he showed last season that he can expand his game beyond his unquestionable scoring abilities.
To be fair, this past offseason was a completely different atmosphere than most. Teams were trying to save money by either letting their players walk or trading them away. Hence, it would have been a little tougher for the Jazz to trade Sexton in such an environment.
At the same time, and as Pina alluded to, Sexton's on a cheap contract, all things considered, in a league where the cap is projected to go up. It should not have been hard to move him to another team if push came to shove.
So, did nobody want him? It's possible he had a market, but the Jazz were not giving him away after all of his progress last season. Danny Ainge is notorious for trying to get the most possible value for the players he trades, as evidenced by what the Jazz got in return for Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and even Mike Conley.
Given how young Sexton is, it wouldn't be hard to deduce that he may have held Sexton to a similar standard even if he wouldn't fetch as many assets back.
Not too long ago, it was also hinted that the Jazz might very well opt to keep Sexton in a renegotiate-and-extend for the long haul since there's good reason to believe that his best days are ahead of him, and Utah might be better off keeping him to see just how far he can go.
There's enough data to suggest that Sexton is a winning player on the right team. The question is, will his first winning team be somewhere else or Utah?