Isaac Okoro tabbed as ‘obvious dump candidate’ to help Cavs keep Ty Jerome, Sam Merrill

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaac Okoro is one of the longest-tenured players on the roster. He’s spent five seasons in a Cavaliers uniform, and the Cavaliers are the only team he’s played for since they drafted him with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

But the Cavaliers would benefit from shedding some salary before they pursue re-signing guard Ty Jerome, who was a premier bench player this season, and sharpshooter Sam Merrill.

CBS’ Sam Quinn has tabbed Okoro as an “obvious dump candidate” to help the Cavaliers keep both Jerome and Merrill in the fold.

“Cleveland is already far beyond next year’s projected second apron, and that’s before potentially re-signing Ty Jerome and/or Sam Merrill,” Quinn wrote. “The Cavaliers will look to save money somewhere, and Okoro’s playoff disappointments make him an obvious dump candidate.”

The Cavaliers enjoyed as disappointing a stint in the 2025 NBA Playoffs as any team that qualified, and Okoro was underwhelming from an individual standpoint, too. He averaged just 4.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in the third playoff run of his NBA career.

Moreover, he failed to score double digits in points in all but one of the nine playoff games he suited up in. The exception came when he scored 13 points and shot 5-of-6 from the field in Cleveland’s Game 4 loss of its second-round series against the Indiana Pacers.

The Cavaliers inked Okoro to a three-year, $38 million contract before the start of the 2024-25 regular season, yet it’s now debatable whether he’s worth that price tag. The Cavs would probably be better off next season with one or both of Jerome and Merrill on the team and Okoro’s salary off the books.

Okoro might no longer be as vital to the Cavaliers as he once was, but he still might be an appealing player for a rebuilding team to take a flier on. After all, he was a top-five draft pick not that long ago, and he’s still quite a spring chicken at just 24 years old.

It’s possible Okoro still has some untapped potential that another team could help realize. However, if Okoro is at the end of the road of his Cavs tenure, he will likely go down among Cavaliers fans as someone who did not live up to the draft hype, even though he put together some solid seasons with the team.