As recently as a few weeks ago, suitors for Ty Jerome were lining up. Any team with a need for scoring and playmaking from the guard position was looking at their salary cap sheet and deciding whether they could make a run at the journeyman guard having a breakout season for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A truly abysmal showing in the team's second round series by Jerome, however, may have suitors backing away this summer. Perhaps that means Cleveland is now in line to bring back the talented guard.
Ty Jerome had an up-and-down postseason
Ty Jerome was one of the league's best bench players this season, scoring efficiently and prolifically in just 19.9 minutes per game. He displayed elite touch, excellent vision and quick hands and was a key part of the Cleveland Cavaliers' dominant season and 64 wins.
The playoffs, however, turned into a roller coaster for the onetime Virginia Cavaliers player. He was no stranger to high-leverage postseason play, having led Virginia to the National Championship in college, but this was his first time playing in the NBA Playoffs. The results are hard to parse.
In the Cavaliers' sweep of the outmatched Miami Heat in the first round, Jerome was resplendent. He averaged 16.3 points per game in 22.9 minutes, adding 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and shooting a sublime 50 percent from 3-point range. The Cavs outscored the Heat by 45 points per 100 possessions when he was on the court, a truly ludicrous number.
His performance against the Heat gave all the indicators that Jerome was made for the playoff moment, and likewise was able to provide historic production against what was supposed to be high-level competition. He appeared to be as good as gone this summer, as Cleveland will be limited in what they can offer the pending free agent.
Then the Cavaliers moved on to the second round to face the Indiana Pacers, and it all fell apart for Ty Jerome. Jerome averaged only 8.0 points per game on 30 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent shooting from deep. He had nine turnovers to just 13 assists and only got to the line seven times.
It is hard to imagine a more drastic change in production from one game to the next. In Jerome's minutes against the Pacers the Cavaliers were outscored by 41 points per 100 possessions; that is an 86-point swing from series to series.
Ty Jerome's market may be cooling down
Without getting into the financial weeds, the Cavaliers are on track to be extremely expensive next season, passing the second tax apron; that not only means increased financial costs, but team-building restrictions. Additionally, because Jerome signed with the team as a free agent and has only been with Cleveland for two seasons, the most they can offer him is around $12 million in salary for next season.
Cleveland may decide that they cannot afford to even offer that much, but there was a time recently where he market appeared to have risen above that number. Perhaps it still has. The Orlando Magic or San Antonio Spurs or some other team may be prepared to make Jerome a hearty offer.
Yet Jerome's complete and abject failure against the Pacers may have cooled his market enough for the Cavaliers to be competitive once more. Do they want to commit money to the player who just self-destructed in the playoffs? Do they want to blast past the second apron line to become an insanely expensive team?
Those are questions the franchise will need to ask and answer in the coming weeks. Jerome's poor showing, at the least, may have at least made it possible to ask them.