At this best, Ty Jerome is a dynamic player who can elevate the Cleveland Cavaliers to true contender status. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers have seen a different side of Jerome at a time when they've needed him at his best.
As a result, Cleveland must now give serious thought to how much it's willing to pay to keep Jerome in Cleveland beyond the 2024-25 season.
Jerome is an exceptional success story, breaking out on a 64-win team in 2024-25 after struggling to secure consistent playing time across his first five NBA seasons. Against all odds, he looked the part of a future Sixth Man of the Year and epitomized instant offense.
Jerome appeared in 70 games during the 2024-25 regular season, averaging 12.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.6 three-point field goals made in just 19.9 minutes per game.
If those averages sound special, it's because they are. They translated to 22.7 points, 6.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and 2.9 three-point field goals made per 36 minutes—on .516/.439/.872 shooting and an eFG% of .606.
Unfortunately, Jerome's success through the regular season and the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs hasn't yet translated to Round 2.
If Ty Jerome can't turn things around, can Cavs justify re-signing him?
Jerome was excellent in the first round, averaging 16.3 points and 4.8 assists in just 23.0 minutes per game on .524/.500/.846 shooting during a four-game sweep of the Miami Heat. He posted 28 points in Game 1, tallied 13 points and 11 assists in Game 3, and posted 18 points and five assists in Game 4.
Jerome started the second round off in a respectable manner, posting 21 points and eight assists on 8-of-20 shooting, but it's been downhill since then.
Jerome finished Game 2 with just two points on atrocious 1-of-14 shooting from the field. To make matters worse, the Cavaliers lost that game by just one point—meaning even a 2-of-14 shooting performance would've sufficed.
Jerome wasn't any better in Game 3, scoring two points on 1-of-8 shooting—thus resulting in his minutes being more than cut in half from the 28 he played in Game 2 to just 13 in Game 3.
Two games admittedly shouldn't cause a referendum to be written on Jerome's future with the Cavaliers. Cleveland trails the Indiana Pacers 2-1, however, and would label a second consecutive second-round exit a failure considering their 64-18 regular-season record.
That wouldn't fall squarely on Jerome's shoulders, but he's likely to be an expensive player to re-sign this summer—and that will necessitate absolute confidence in his value to the team.
Jerome is an unrestricted free agent, meaning he could sign with another team for a figure that stretches far beyond what Cleveland would be comfortable paying him. It also means that he could walk in favor of a larger role, but simply sticking to the finances, the Cavaliers will at least need to come close to matching what he's offered by rival executives.
If that potentially costly re-signing is going to be justified, then the Cavaliers will need to see Jerome prove that he can thrive deep in the playoffs.