As Collin Sexton finds way with Hornets, why isn’t he seen more in crunch time?
Never one to let a little bump or bruise keep him out of uniform very long, Collin Sexton had good reason to take a brief one-game respite before returning to action.
After all, the Charlotte Hornets’ guard goes by the nickname ‘Young Bull.’
“Just knocked my front teeth out and got a pretty bad whiplash,” Sexton said of the injury he suffered against the New Orleans Pelicans on Nov. 7. “But I’m back with the guys. I (felt) all right enough to play. They count on me. So, I’m available.”
After missing Friday night’s loss in Miami, Sexton returned and was in the starting lineup for the Hornets in their 121-111 loss Monday night to the Los Angeles Lakers, tipping off a two-game homestand. In a season that already has the familiar signs that derailed the Hornets for the better part of the past decade, Sexton is one of Charlotte’s constants and is fitting in nicely.
With star guard LaMelo Ball nursing a right ankle impingement that cost him a fourth straight game, along with rising star swingman Brandon Miller dealing with a left shoulder subluxation, the onus is on others to step in and fill that huge void caused by the absences of the team’s top two players.
Sexton, acquired along with a second-round pick by the Hornets via trade with the Utah Jazz for Jusuf Nurkic in June, is rapidly turning out to be one of Charlotte’s most invaluable players. He’s flourishing, averaging a career-high five assists per game through his initial nine outings with the Hornets leading into Wednesday’s tilt with the Milwaukee Bucks at Spectrum Center.
That number is highlighted by Sexton’s performance against his former team, when he stockpiled a season-best 12 assists against Utah on Nov. 2, netting his first double-double with Charlotte courtesy of the fifth game of his career with a dozen or more assists.
He recorded at least 18 points in each of his three starts leading into their matchup with the Lakers. The eighth-year Georgia native has been invaluable for the Hornets, switching between starting and coming off the bench over the first three weeks, and settled in nicely with his new team.
“It’s going pretty good,” Sexton said. “It’s going pretty good. I feel like there’s some areas that I’m still trying to figure out. Like when to score, when not to score. So, just trying to get adjusted to the new system, but also just the new coach and what he likes and what he doesn’t.
“So, I would say just doing my best, doing my best at going out there and not overthinking the game and remembering that I’m here for a reason at the end of year eight. So, don’t even worry about the mistakes and things like that. Just go out and play. The more I play the right way, the more things are going to happen.”
Sexton isn’t overly flashy and doesn’t often make flamboyant passes, instead choosing to make the basic play. He’s been asked to be a facilitator in the early-going and is averaging 15.8 points and two rebounds. The newness factor is surely a reason for the 3.2 turnovers per game he’s averaging, which far surpasses the career-worst of 2.8 he posted in 2020-21 and 2021-22 while with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It’s a balancing act he’s trying to navigate.
“Just the feel of the game, feel of the game and just understanding,” Sexton said. “Pick and choose my spots, and not allowing the defense to choose where I want to shoot. So, just picking and choosing my spots and where I would like to get to, especially down the floor of the stretch and when it’s money time.”
Lately, Sexton hasn’t had a whole lot of opportunity during the closing stretch, despite Ball’s absence. Against the Lakers, he logged only 3 minutes, 6 seconds of the game’s closing 12 minutes.
When it comes to distribution of fourth-quarter playing time, coach Charles Lee has a system.
“I think you have to earn the minutes, No. 1,” Lee said. “So, I can sit there in my office with all the assistants and diagram what our perfect minutes rotation is. But the game tells us. Foul trouble and then your ability to earn with your performance. And sometimes there’s things that you can do better, sometimes there’s certain matchups that maybe just don’t go you way.
“And so for us, it’s just trying to feel that out. When you get later in the game, I think we have a good sample size now of who’s got it going, what lineups are going really well together and try finish the game with those guys that give us the best chance to win the game.”
Sexton is fully on board with all that.
“Yeah, we are trying to win,” he said. “We’re trying to win no matter who’s on the court at the end of the game. That’s what Coach feels like. So, we’re trying to win. We’re trying to put victories together. And it starts one game at a time, one possession at a time.”
Spoken like someone who takes pride in being available even when not fully healthy. It’s just another piece of Sexton’s makeup.
“Oh, yeah, you’re never going to be 100%,” Sexton said. “I always say more like 60% to 75% is the mark. Especially during a season that’s so long. Of course, there are going to be days where you feel like you’re 90 to 100%, but certain days you’re going to feel like you’re 60 to 75. And when the game comes, that 60 turns into 85, 90 within the flow of the game.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "As Collin Sexton finds way with Hornets, why isn’t he seen more in crunch time?."
