Collin Sexton is on the move again. The former Alabama star guard has been traded for the second time in his NBA career and will join his third team since being drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 8th pick in 2018.
Sexton was traded in 2022 by the Cavaliers to the Utah Jazz in a trade that netted Cleveland All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell.
Utah's decision to draft Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. in the first round of last week's NBA Draft signaled that Sexton would likely be on the move as the franchise prioritized its younger options in the backcourt. On Sunday, that became a reality when Sexton was traded to the Charlotte Hornets:
Just in: The Utah Jazz are trading Collin Sexton and a 2030 second-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Jusuf Nurkic, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/k5hFMBSlYn
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2025
The trade comes as no surprise, but the destination and lack of value received back by the Jazz does. Sexton is on a pretty friendly, and now-expiring, contract, and put up an average of 18.4 points per game on just under 28 minutes a night. He did that on strong efficiency, shooting 48% from the floor, 41% from three, and 86% from the free throw line. He was only a stone's throw away from joining the coveted 50-40-90 club. Most assumed the Jazz would get back more value than Jusuf Nurkic.
Sexton will join Brandon Miller in Charlotte, uniting two former Alabama stars
Mark Sears is the most accomplished Alabama basketball player in the history of the program. But if you're talking about just raw talent alone, the two best Crimson Tide players of the century are Sexton and Brandon Miller. Now they are teammates with the Hornets.
Sexton will be remembered as perhaps the most important Alabama basketball player in program history. He committed to the Crimson Tide during a major downswing for the program, ultimately breaking a five-year tournament drought by leading Alabama to the 2018 dance, just the second tournament appearance in a dozen years. He also became the first player from Alabama picked in the first round in 17 years, and also broke a 10-year streak of no Tide players being selected at all.
Five years later, Miller came to Alabama and elevated the Crimson Tide to heights the program had never before seen under Nate Oats. In Miller's one-and-done season in Tuscaloosa, Alabama won the SEC regular season and tournament titles, and earned a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Miller parlayed a stellar freshman season into becoming the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
The Hornets have been stuck in a rebuild for quite some time, but are beginning to assemble the pieces necessary to crack the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Miller and star point guard LaMelo Ball form a talented tandem, assuming both can stay healthy. They added some necessary shooting to the rotation in the draft, selecting Kon Knueppel from Duke and Liam McNeeley from UConn in the first round.
Sexton is a career 38.7% three-point shooter, and shot above 39% in all three seasons he spent with the Jazz. He shot a career-best 40.6% last season. If he isn't re-routed, he can provide a nice scoring punch for the Hornets, and potentially run the show in case of another extended injury absence by Ball.