Donovan Mitchell shares that he has PTSD from being coached by Ty Jerome’s father in AAU

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome has been on a roll as of late. He has scored 24-plus points in three of his last four contests, and in Cleveland’s most recent game against the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 24, he was arguably the Cavaliers’ best player.

In a game the team won by 14 points to pick up its 17th victory of the season, Jerome finished tied with Donovan Mitchell for the most points of any Cavalier with 26. He also scored the ball with fantastic efficiency, as he shot 9-of-14 from the field including 4-of-8 from 3-point range.

While speaking with the media, Mitchell looked back on his time playing for an AAU team called the Riverside Hawks, that was coached by Jerome’s father, and said he still has PTSD from his time with the squad.

“His dad used to cuss us out at 8 years old,” Mitchell recalled. “I tell people all the time that I don’t like positive reinforcement. I think it’s just PTSD from my AAU days with his pops. Getting chewed out at 9 a.m., 10 is something you don’t forget.”

Jerome has been a majorly positive presence off the pine for the Cavaliers so far this season after he was limited to only two appearances in the 2023-24 campaign. So far in his second season in Cleveland, he has played in every one of the team’s 18 games and is averaging 12.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

He has served as a linchpin to a Cavaliers bench that ranks near the top of the league in offensive effectiveness. Cleveland is receiving 38.7 points per contest from its bench, the eighth-most of any team in the NBA.

But for as great as Jerome has been for the Cavaliers, the one game of late when he didn’t score 24-plus points came in probably Cleveland’s biggest game of the season so far. He scored 10 points on five shot attempts against the Boston Celtics back on Nov. 19, and Cleveland suffered its first loss of the campaign after it won its opening 15 games.

Jerome and the Cavaliers can extend their current winning streak to three games with a victory over the Atlanta Hawks in their next regular-season contest on Nov. 27. Atlanta has lost three of its past four contests and fell to the Chicago Bulls by 14 points in an NBA Cup contest back on Nov. 22.