Former Alabama Basketball Star Collin Sexton Traded to Charlotte Hornets

Collin Sexton, who guided the Alabama men's basketball program to its first NCAA Tournament since 2012 as a true freshman during the 2017-18 season, was traded to the Charlotte Hornets by the Utah Jazz on Sunday. ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania was first to report the deal.

The Jazz included a 2030 second-round pick as part of the swap. Center Jusuf Nurkic is coming to Utah from Charlotte. Nurkic, who made his NBA debut in 2014, first joined the Hornets this past February. Charlotte is Sexton's third NBA team.

Sexton, the eighth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, averaged 18.4 points and 2.7 rebounds per game last season. The 26-year-old guard played in 63 games in his final year as a member of the Jazz.

The Hornets traded center Mark Williams to the Phoenix Suns (Nurkic's former team) during this year's NBA Draft. Subtracting Nurkic from the mix for the 2025-26 campaign indicates that the team figures to be in the market for some veteran help at center, which is obviously not an area Sexton's addition shores up directly.

Utah had reportedly been shopping Sexton in recent days. The team that ended up acquiring his services already has an established point guard (albeit one that has struggled in the past with injuries) in LaMelo Ball.

In three seasons with the Jazz, Sexton never cracked the mark of averaging 20 points or more per game, something he accomplished twice with the Cavaliers. He played in 189 games for Utah. Sexton joins Brandon Miller, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft, as a fellow Crimson Tide star on the Hornets.