Cleveland will be without their Sixth Man of the Year finalist.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be losing a key piece to their rotation in free agency. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, reserve guard Ty Jerome has signed a three-year, $28 million contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Cavs are above the salary cap and the second apron, but they could’ve matched that contract. Cleveland had Jerome’s early Bird right, which would’ve allowed them to sign Jerome to a multi-year deal with the first being up to $14.3 million. Although that would’ve come with strict luxury tax penalties.
Koby Altman and the rest of the front office clearly had other plans.
The Cavs instead filled their need at backup point guard by trading Isaac Okoro to the Chicago Bulls for Lonzo Ball. While Ball should theoretically be a good fit, the Cavs are assuming that Ball will be healthy. That isn’t something Ball has shown he can do as he’s only played over 60 games once since he entered the league in 2017-18. This includes appearing in just 70 combined games over the past four seasons.
Cleveland also decided that it was worth opening up the checkbook to retain Sam Merrill. He was signed to a four-year, $38 million deal, which is slightly more than some would’ve projected coming into the offseason. It’s also a deal that is more than what Jerome got with the Grizzlies in annual salary and contract length.
Jerome isn’t a sure bet. He’s had injury issues of his own. But last season, he showed that he could put together a 70-game season and be one of the best reserves in the league in the process. Jerome was a Sixth Man of the Year Finalist and performed well in Cleveland’s first-round series against the Miami Heat before things fell apart in the second round.
Last season, Jerome averaged 12.5 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.5 rebounds on incredibly efficient .516/.439/.872 shooting splits in 19.9 minutes per outing. Those numbers dipped in the playoffs, where he averaged 11.7 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game with .402/.389/.850 shooting splits.