Report: Sam Merrill has already become a favorite of Kenny Atkinson

As Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson has gotten settled in with his new squad, Cavs sharpshooter Sam Merrill has evidently made a strong impression on Cleveland’s first-year skipper.

“One of the standouts of player-organized offseason workouts and training camp, Merrill has already become an Atkinson favorite thanks to his continuous movement, gravity and lethal shooting stroke,” wrote Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. “Despite missing time in the preseason because of a sore wrist, Atkinson said that won’t impact Merrill’s place in the nightly rotation.”

Merrill just put together the best season of his NBA career, and he’s looking to keep things rolling in the 2024-25 campaign.

The 28-year-old entered last season having never appeared in more than 30 games in a single regular season. He ended up shattering that mark, as the Cavs trusted him in 61 games in the 2023-24 regular season and gave him a career-high 17.5 minutes per contest.

He rewarded them with some very impressive 3-point shooting, as he knocked down 40.4 percent of his attempts from deep. He also averaged a career-high 8.0 points per game.

With fellow Cavs sharpshooter Max Strus currently sidelined due to an ankle injury, Cleveland may need to rely on Merrill a bit more for his 3-point abilities in the early portion of the season. Even though Merrill played the biggest role of his career last season, he’s almost certainly looking to prove that he can be trusted for more than 17.5 minutes per game.

The former second-round pick is already an NBA champion thanks to his time with the Milwaukee Bucks, but he would probably love nothing more than to win a ring while making a big impact along the way. During Milwaukee’s playoff run in 2021, he averaged just 3.8 minutes per contest and got into eight games.

The Cavs will open their 2024-25 season on Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors. Currently, this is the last season in which Merrill is under contract with Cleveland, so he may have a little extra motivation this season to prove that he’s worthy of a solid deal next summer.

If Merrill puts together another strong campaign with the Cavs and there’s mutual interest in a new deal, perhaps the two sides will come to an agreement keeping the shooting guard around for the foreseeable future. For now, he’s focused on the Raptors.