This has been discussed at length in any number of the Irving trades. Did we really need another one of these threads? For now, I'm not going to merge it, but it would be nice if people just didn't start a trade that probably pretty clearly exists elsewhere on the blog.
As for the premise, the trade is theoretically a lot more than just Irving for Sexton when you consider what the Cavs did with all the pieces of the trade (and they still have Zizic on their roster who has actually looked half way decent of late).
As a reminder the initial trade was Irving for Thomas, Crowder, Zizic, 2018 1st (
, 2020 2nd
These are the trades the Cavs have made involving those pieces since the trade
Thomas, Frye, 2018 1st (25) FOR Clarkson, Nance
Crowder, Rose, Shumpert, 2020 2nd, 2024 Jazz option to swap 2nd's, rights to Dimitrios Agravanis, 2.1 million cash FOR Hill, Hood, rights to Arturas Gudaitis
Hill, Dekker (who they got with cash and a swap of unlikely to play in the league players), 2021 2nd FOR Delladedova, Henson, lotto protected 2021 1st (MIL), 2021 2nd (MIL), 2022 2nd (WAS)
Hood FOR Stauskas, Baldwin, 2021 2nd, 2023 2nd
Stauskas, Baldwin, 2021 2nd, Burks (who they got with 2 2nd's for Korver) FOR Knight, Chriss, 2019 1st, 2022 2nd
They then re-signed Stauskas after Houston cut him.
So if you put all of that together you get a massive trade that shakes out like this:
Irving, Frye, 2018 1st (25), Rose, Shumpert, Dekker, Korver, 2024 Jazz option to swap 2nd's, rights to 2 players that likely won't see the league
FOR
Zizic, 2018 1st (
, 2019 1st (HOU), 2021 1st (MIL), Nance, Clarkson, Chriss, Knight, Henson, Dellavedova, 2021 2nd, 2022 2nd, 2022 2nd, 2023 2nd, rights to 1 player that likely won't see the league plus they re-signed Stauskas and Frye
Now obviously you can't just do that as these trades probably wouldn't have been available to Boston, but at the end of the day the Cavs essentially traded Irving, Korver, 25, and some bench fodder for Sexton, Nance, Clarkson, Chriss, Knight, Henson, Delly, 2 future 1st's and a bunch of future 2nd's. Trade is a lot different when you consider the potential trade possibilities that might have been there for Boston had it not made the trade then.
That said, if Irving stays, trade was absolutely worth it for Boston. If he leaves, it was not, especially given Irving missed last year's playoffs.