{"id":881454,"date":"2026-09-05T23:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T23:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881454\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T23:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T23:22:11","slug":"opportunity-to-win-attracted-collin-sexton-to-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881454\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Opportunity To Win’ Attracted Collin Sexton To Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lakers made a series of moves to rework their roster in early July, including the addition of Collin Sexton<\/a> in free agency. In an interview with ESPN LA (Twitter video link<\/a>), Sexton explains why he chose to come to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI would say just opportunity to win, being on big stage and being in the situation where I can try to come in and impact winning,\u201d he told the hosts. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been on different teams where it\u2019s just been a lot tougher. Of course, the want to win, it\u2019s always been there. But it\u2019s definitely tough to win in the NBA. It\u2019s a hard thing and each and every night we\u2019re playing against the best of the best. So I think just being on this stage and being able to impact winning each and every day, and what I bring to the team and bring to the game. I feel like I just fit right in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexton is hoping for a chance to show what he can do in the playoffs after spending most of his career with losing teams. He was traded from Utah to Charlotte last offseason and then shipped to Chicago at the February deadline. He was productive during his time with the tanking Bulls, averaging 17.5 PPG in 26 games while shooting 48.2% from the field and 41% from three-point range.<\/p>\n

L.A. gave him a two-year, $19MM contract<\/a> with a player option for the second season, so there\u2019s a chance he could be a free agent again next summer. However, Sexton is hoping for a more permanent home as he joins his fifth team in nine NBA seasons.<\/p>\n

Sexton also talked about reuniting with former Jazz teammate Walker Kessler<\/a>, who was acquired as part of the roster shakeup in July. The Lakers are counting on Kessler to become a defensive anchor in the middle as well as a lob threat for Luka Doncic<\/a>, and Sexton believes he\u2019s perfect for the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gonna have a huge impact, especially on the defensive end,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cHis presence, his rim protection, and even the offensive ability that he\u2019s been working on this summer. \u2026\u00a0 I\u2019m super excited for him and the opportunity. He\u2019s one of my guys; he\u2019s from Atlanta, so whenever I\u2019ve been talking to him, I told him, \u2018I got your back,\u2019 and next thing you know, we\u2019re here. Working on the three-point shot, but also just finishing around the rim even better, so it\u2019s cool. It\u2019s cool to see that he used that break when he wasn\u2019t playing all last season to really work on his game and develop it. So I\u2019m super excited for him and his growth, and I can\u2019t wait to be back on the court with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Sexton discussed the team\u2019s trip to Slovenia last month to work out with Doncic and start building chemistry among all the new players. He said it was exciting to see that part of the world, and it was a reflection of Doncic\u2019s leadership skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say it was one of those trips where it was more like team-building for us,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cIt was for us to gel and work out, not just in the States, but away. And also just the culture, for Luka to do that, it just shows a true leader, and that\u2019s the role that he wants to fall into this season and be the one to lead us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers made a series of moves to rework their roster in early July, including the addition of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,10855,11473,590,85,112058],"class_list":["post-881454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-collin-sexton","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-walker-kessler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}