Ty Jerome and LeBron James have something in common - and it's not good

Ty Jerome has proven himself to be one of the best bench players in the NBA this season.

That is quite the development for the journeyman point guard, who barely clung to the league with a two-way contract on the Golden State Warriors, then played well enough to sign a modest two-year contract at essentially the minimum.

Jerome then missed all but two games of last season with a nasty ankle injury, putting his future with the team in doubt. He was not a given to be the backup point guard coming into Training Camp after Craig Porter Jr. was impressive in Jerome's stead last year.

Yet Jerome has erupted this season, averaging a career-high in scoring and shooting a blistering 44 percent from 3-point range. The only players in the NBA shooting a higher percentage on that level of volume are shooting specialist Luke Kennard and Taurean Prince. Neither has anywhere near the usage rate of Jerome when in the game.

What's more, Jerome is one of the league leaders in steals and while he lacks the athleticism to be an elite defender, he is active, heady and clearly a positive when you factor in his turnover-inducing tendencies and his solid size at the position, standing 6'5".

For all of his apparent impact coming off the bench for the Cavaliers, however, it's not translating to team success. Since joining the team, De'Andre Hunter leads the team in "plus-minus" per game; that is, the Cavaliers outscore their opponents by an average of 10 points per game. Of the full-season Cavaliers, Evan Mobley leads the way at +9.4. Then you have Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and so forth.

In fact, you have to go down to 12th on the list before you reach Ty Jerome, at a solid but unspectacular +5.3. Yet no one would wait 12 names before mentioning Jerome when ranking the players on the roster, or even specifically the impact they have had this season. Why is he so far down the list?

The reason is, at least in part, bad luck.

Ty Jerome is a victim of bad shooting luck

Zach Kram of ESPN recently wrote a piece investigating the poor on/off numbers for LeBron James this season. For the first time in his career, LeBron has a negative plus-minus. Does that communicate that he has fallen off as a star-level player?

Kram emphatically answers "by no means!" and highlights how James is actually the victim of historically bad shooting luck. His Lakers teammates shooting terribly when on the court with him (despite above-average expected shooting percentages) and are on fire when he sits. Similarly, when he is on the court opponents suddenly heat up, and go cold when he checks out of the game.

The numbers are colossal for James, but he is not the only player in the league dealing with such an issue. Owen Phillips, who has a phenomenal substack working with NBA data visualization, looked up the 10 NBA players with the worst 3-point shooting splits. Tucked in at No. 6 on the list, just behind LeBron James himself, is Ty Jerome.

Despite Jerome shooting 44 percent on his 3-pointers, his Cavaliers teammates are going cold when he is on the court. Not disastrously so; they are still shooting 37.5 percent overall. Given that the actual number must be lower when you take out his attempts, however, you get a quirk of luck that is absolutely bringing down Jerome's overall impact.

LeBron James is usually good company to be in as a player, but in this case Jerome wishes he was attached to someone else. Jerome is having a fantastic season, and he is succeeding despite some bad luck.