What are the Charlotte Hornets getting in Collin Sexton?

Sexton is an elite driver of the basketball that boasts a hiccup-quick first step and the ability to vary tempos that leaves defenders in a heap. He's a walking paint touch that lives at the free throw line (he was fouled on 12.2% of his field goal attempts in 2024-25, an 86th percentile number among guards), creating the type of easy buckets that Charlotte struggled to generate last season. Of the Hornets eight back court players that logged more than 750 minutes in a Charlotte uniform in 2024-25, only LaMelo Ball had a free throw rate greater than 50%.

When Sexton gets cut off on his way to the basket, he has a variety of counters to finish amongst the trees. Floaters of one or both feet, fancy footwork in the restricted area, and elite mid-range touch (77th percentile in mid-range accuracy) make him one of the game's premiere undersized inside-the-arc finishers.

From three-point range, Sexton is passable. He shot 41% in 2024-25, albeit on relatively low volume for his usage. The newest Charlotte Hornet can get to his long-range jumper both off the catch and off the dribble (in a pinch), but his jumper just serves as a means to keeping the defense honest with the end goal of the possession being a paint touch.

Unfortunately for him, Sexton has taken his lumps as a primary creator on bottom-feeding teams, but those tireless on-ball repetitions have turned him into a solid playmaker for others. His assist rate has steadily climbed throughout his career, peaking in 2023-24 at 28.4% percent, a 90th percentile number among his peers.

On defense, his physical limitations will always stunt his overall impact, but it's the size of the fight in the dog, not the size of the dog in the fight, right? Sexton plays with dogged intensity that Charlotte is banking on translating, and even ramping up when the lights of a potential playoff push get bright.

The NBA playoffs just showed the world that employing multiple ball handlers pays dividends in high-stress playoff games, so Charlotte swapping a plodding center for the archetypal-ideal of a sixth man is a win for the Hornets.

Trading for Sexton complicates a potential reunion with Tre Mann and creates an opening in Charlotte's front court, but it's a move that Peterson and crew couldn't turn down. The main buzz word at the introductory press conferences for Charlotte's four rookies was 'compete,' and bringing Sexton into the building will immediately ratchet the team's intensity levels up to where Peterson and head coach Charles Lee desire them to be.

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