2018 NBA Draft: Get ready for the Collin Sexton-Trae Young debate

Where 2017 produced a plethora of strong point and combo guards, the 2018 NBA Draft lacks depth. However, Trae Young and Collin Sexton are no drop in quality.

Coming into the NCAA season, Collin Sexton was supposed to be the 2018 NBA Draft’s alpha dog prospect at point guard. It described his mentality to a T, as someone who was likely to be the top lead guard in the nation. While Trevon Duval started the year well, his turnovers have caught up with his poor shooting. In that same time, Sexton has cemented himself with some incredible performances.

First there was the epic performance against Minnesota where he led his team while playing 3-on-5. Sexton dropped 40 points, splitting triple-teams and hitting unbelievable shots. That game showed his grit and shotmaking. Then there was his 30-point performance on the road at Arizona. You’ll be hard-pressed to find two performances as impressive as those.

Well, Trae Young might be the only one who can stake a claim to that. Where Duval was seen as the main competition to Sexton, it’s quickly become Young. Young is an All-American freshman point guard at Oklahoma who may have a shot at National Player of the Year.

Trae Young is dominating out of nowhere

Young dropped 43 points and seven assists on Oregon in just his fifth ever college game. A couple weeks later he helped Oklahoma knock off a ranked USC squad with 29 points and nine assists. Then he did this on the road win over No. 3 Wichita State:

Young, while having received high praise in high school, has seemingly gone from relatively low on draft boards to almost firmly in the lottery conversation. Young’s numbers are hard to believe, even when you watch him play.

The Oklahoma freshman is averaging 28.8 points, 8.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game on 37.5 percent shooting from 3 on nearly 10 attempts per game. What’s absurd about Young is that despite taking so many 3s, he can boast a true shooting percentage of 63.5 percent.

Now, Young’s numbers make anyone’s seem miniscule. However, Sexton is still having a strong year. Alabama’s point guard is averaging 21.8 points and 10 free throw attempts per game while shooting 47.1 percent from 3.

Stats aren’t everything, but you’ll see his main question mark upon examining his numbers. In fact, as you’ll see, Young and Sexton are very different players, which makes it interesting to analyze who the better prospect is.

Young vs. Sexton

Sexton is averaging just 3.3 assists per game. Right now, Sexton looks more of a scorer than playmaker. That may be fine depending on which NBA team he ends up on, but it’s valid to wonder how good of a point guard he can be without great playmaking. Young, on the other hand, has a great feel for running his team and is possibly the best passer in the entire nation.

While Young appears to have a huge edge in terms of passing and shooting, the latter is more about how he can bend a defense, Sexton certainly looks more promising on defense. Sexton is the ultimate competitor, loves to pick up full-court and get in close to opponents. His fire and ability to be a two-way point guard might be enough for teams to prefer him to Young.

Head to head matchup on the horizon

Often we never have anything tangible to go off of when comparing certain prospects. We have the eye test, long form features and stats. Not much else. Luckily for us, Alabama and Oklahoma face of on Jan. 27.

While we shouldn’t read too much into that matchups because off-games do happen, it will be intriguing for most NBA front offices. We’ll get to see their contrasting styles up close and personal. Not to mention Sexton is bound to demand the Young defensive assignment due to his competitive nature.

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This will be another chance for Young to show he can thrive against good athletes, but Sexton’s relentlessness may be his biggest test.

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