2026-27 projection
| GP | MPG | FG% (FGA) | FT% (FTA) | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | 24 | .480 (10.0) | .855 (3.2) | 1.4 | 14.3 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 2.1 |
- Healthy-night role: 24 minutes — four at point guard and 20 at shooting guard.
- 9-category: Overall range 120-170; strongest in efficient points and FT%, with little rebounding or defensive production.
- Points leagues: Overall range 100-150; usage with the reserve unit creates a steadier floor than his category line suggests.
- Dynasty: Overall range 180-260; the skill remains useful, but a bench role and contract context constrain appreciation.
Projection logic
Across 68 games in 2025-26, Sexton averaged 15.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.6 threes in 23.7 minutes while shooting .485/.855. That is almost a role-perfect baseline. The Lakers' starters already have two primary creators, so the model keeps Sexton near 24 minutes and uses him as the first guard off the bench rather than projecting a return to 30-plus minutes. ESPN player statistics
Redraft, dynasty, and scenarios
- Median: Efficient 14-point scorer with usable assists and free-throw volume.
- Ceiling: A Dončić or Reaves absence creates 30 minutes and a 20-point, five-assist stretch.
- Floor: Grimes handles more reserve creation and Sexton's workload falls near 20 minutes, making him a points streamer.
- Draft stance: Most useful in points formats or roto builds that need FT% support; otherwise a late-round selection.
- Dynasty: Better held by contenders than rebuilders because his clearest upside comes from temporary injury-driven starts.
Confidence
- Roster: High — signing is official.
- Minutes/rates: Medium-high — last season closely matches this role, but closing minutes may vary.
- Availability: Medium-high — 68 games is a reasonable central expectation.
Sources
Career record
Pre-NBA: Alabama, one season (2017-18), SEC. 19.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists on .447/.336/.778, winning SEC Freshman of the Year and second-team All-SEC, plus the SEC All-Freshman team; a 2017 McDonald's All-American. Draft: 2018, first round, 8th overall, Cleveland. Traded: signed-and-traded to Utah on September 3, 2022 with Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji and picks for Donovan Mitchell, on a four-year, $72 million deal; traded to Charlotte on June 29, 2025 with a 2030 second for Jusuf Nurkić; traded to Chicago on February 4, 2026 with Ousmane Dieng and three seconds for Coby White and Mike Conley Jr. Signed with the Lakers in July 2026 on a two-year, roughly $19 million room-exception deal with a player option.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 20 | CLE | 82 | 31.8 | 16.7 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.5 | .430 | .839 | 2.3 |
| 2019-20 | 21 | CLE | 65 | 33.0 | 20.8 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.5 | .472 | .846 | 2.4 |
| 2020-21 | 22 | CLE | 60 | 35.3 | 24.3 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | .475 | .815 | 2.8 |
| 2021-22 | 23 | CLE | 11 | 28.7 | 16.0 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 1.0 | .450 | .744 | 2.8 |
| 2022-23 | 24 | UTA | 48 | 23.9 | 14.3 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.0 | .506 | .819 | 1.8 |
| 2023-24 | 25 | UTA | 78 | 26.6 | 18.7 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.6 | .487 | .859 | 2.1 |
| 2024-25 | 26 | UTA | 63 | 27.9 | 18.4 | 2.7 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.7 | .480 | .865 | 2.5 |
| 2025-26 | 27 | CHA/CHI | 68 | 23.7 | 15.4 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 1.6 | .485 | .855 | 2.1 |
| Career | 475 | 29.0 | 18.3 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 1.5 | .472 | .841 | 2.3 |
The 2025-26 split: 42 games in Charlotte at 22.3 minutes, 14.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.4 threes on .488/.393/.877; then 26 games in Chicago after the February 4 trade at 26.0 minutes, 17.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.1 threes on .482/.410/.822. The Chicago half was the better scoring and shooting sample and the worse playmaking one — he was used more as an off-guard there.
Fantasy history: season-end 9-category ranks are not verifiable from public sources for any season of his career and are not estimated here. The durable structural facts: an .841 career free-throw percentage on real volume is a genuine category asset, 0.1 blocks and 2.7 rebounds are dead categories, and 2.3 career turnovers against 3.6 assists is a poor ratio for a guard. That combination has always made him better in points formats than in categories, and the dossier's projection ranges above reflect the same shape. The one season he plausibly carried standard-league category value on a per-game basis was 2020-21 at 24.3 points.
Durability: 82 GP, 65, 60, 11, 48, 78, 63, 68. The 65 in 2019-20 is a full season — Cleveland played only 65 games before the COVID stoppage and was not invited to the bubble — so it is not a missed-time year. The real events: a torn left meniscus suffered against New York on November 7, 2021, with season-ending surgery on November 20, costing him all but 11 games of 2021-22; a chronic hamstring problem through 2022-23 that cost him separate stretches in December 2022 and January 2023 and then everything from February 15 until he returned for the final four games in April; and in 2025-26 a muscle injury from December 5-23, 2025, a hamstring absence January 12-15, 2026, and a leg injury suffered against Sacramento that cost him at least four straight games in mid-March 2026, plus a right finger and left elbow contusion late. The pattern is soft-tissue and recurring rather than structural — the knee has held up for four full seasons since the surgery, but the hamstring keeps returning.
Trajectory: The 24.3-point season at age 22 is the outlier, not the baseline; it happened on a bad Cleveland team that had no one else to shoot, and the meniscus tear the following November permanently reset the career. What is impressive is that the efficiency survived the reset and then improved: he shot .430 as a rookie and has been at .480 or better in each of the four seasons since 2022-23, with free-throw percentage climbing from .815 to the high .850s and three-point percentage settling around .390-.400. That is a real skill gain, not a minutes artifact — his per-36 scoring has actually declined from 27.3 in 2020-21 to 23.4 in 2025-26 while his true shooting has risen, meaning he converted from a high-volume inefficient scorer into a lower-volume efficient one. At 27 turning 28 in January, that is a stable, well-aged profile rather than one with a leap left in it. Three franchises in thirteen months tells you how the league values him: useful, movable, not built around. The Lakers' 24-minute bench role fits the 2025-26 Charlotte usage almost exactly, and the honest projection is a repeat of that line rather than a return to the Utah 18-and-4 seasons, since Dončić and Reaves absorb the creation that produced the 4.9 assists in 2023-24.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · StatMuse season-by-season · Wikipedia — Alabama career, draft, trades and injury history · Hoops Rumors — Lakers two-year deal · ESPN — 2022-23 hamstring absence · Salt Lake Tribune — 2023 return with four games left
Open questions
- Does Sexton close ahead of Grimes when Los Angeles needs downhill pressure?
- How aggressively will the Lakers stagger him away from Dončić and Reaves?