Guard Ty Jerome showed flashes of great talent in previous stops in his NBA career, and he’s now enjoying a breakout year in his second season playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In primarily a bench role with Cleveland, he’s averaging 12.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Additionally, he’s shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 44.9 percent from 3-point range and just might be a real contender to win the Sixth Man of the Year award.
With Jerome playing the best basketball of his pro career in the 2024-25 campaign, re-signing him will soon become Cleveland’s priority in the offseason, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
“With [Caris] LeVert out of the mix, re-signing Jerome will become the priority,” Fedor wrote. “He deserves that. He’s earned it. The Cavs like him. They have for years. They worked him out and considered drafting him in 2019 — until he went off the board two picks before they were on the clock. They attempted to pry him away from the Warriors a year before he eventually signed. President of basketball operations Koby Altman’s affinity for Jerome goes back to when Altman was a full-time assistant at Columbia University.
“There will be plenty of motivation — on both sides — to get a deal done.
“As long as the Cavs can be competitive financially — and they can even with a bloated salary cap situation — Jerome sticking around seems to be a likely outcome.”
Jerome has provided the Cavaliers with a consistent scoring punch all season long, but he’s been particularly effective scoring the ball of late. He has scored 20 or more points in three of his last four games played, and he came off the pine in every one of those contests.
Cleveland’s current lengthy winning streak may have came to an end at nine games at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers on March 2 if not for Jerome’s contributions. Not only did he drop 26 points while shooting 8-of-17 from the field and 2-of-4 from deep, but he contributed in other areas of the stat sheet as well. He dished out six assists and came up with as many steals in a game that the Cavaliers won in overtime.
For as much sense as it makes for the Cavaliers to re-sign him, Cleveland could face plenty of competition on the open market for his services once he hits free agency. After all, 3-point shooting is a highly valued skill in the modern NBA, and Jerome has been one of the top shooters from deep in the NBA this season.
But it certainly wouldn’t hurt Cleveland’s chances of retaining Jerome past this season if the Cavaliers win their second title in franchise history later on in the year. The Cavaliers have come out on top in 50 of their 60 regular-season games to this point and are riding the longest active winning streak in the league right now at 10 games.
