The path is being paved for Ty Jerome to sign with the San Antonio Spurs this summer.
The Cleveland Cavaliers would obviously love to re-sign Jerome to stay with the team. He had the best season of his career this past year, becoming a lethal weapon off the bench as an efficient shooter and scorer while flashing real playmaking ability and racking up steals at a high rate.
Two barriers block the way to Cleveland retaining Ty Jerome. The first is their financial situation; they are well above the second luxury tax apron after Evan Mobley's new contract kicks in this summer, in part because of their trade deadline deal to add De'Andre Hunter, and with few options for lowering their team salary.
That means every million dollars they pay Jerome will cost them five or six million in luxury tax payments. It also means that a contract for Jerome puts them even further away from getting under that second apron line, and they will need to find a way below it in a year or two or start losing draft picks.
The other barrier is that Jerome fell apart in the Cavaliers' second round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. He couldn't make a shot against defenders like Andrew Nembhard and Ben Sheppard, and when asked to step up in the absence of Darius Garland he was wholly unable to do so. Certainly, being asked to fill the shoes of an All-Star is a tall order, but the value of Jerome was supposed to be how he could duplicate the play of Cleveland's backcourt stars.
Add those two up, and you get a seemingly insurmountable wall to Ty Jerome staying in Cleveland. Perhaps something changes -- perhaps the Cavaliers bite the bullet for a year, or find a taker for Isaac Okoro's contract, or Jerome takes pennies on the dollar to remain in Cleveland with former college teammate De'Andre Hunter.
More likely, Jerome will be looking for a new home. That's not the easiest proposition, as just one or two teams will have meaningful cap space this summer. Jerome will be looking to sign with a team willing to use the full Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, which would mean a contract starting at $14.1 million.
What teams are in a financial position to use their MLE, have need for an offense-first guard with a steady hand, and could offer Jerome no income tax as an added bonus? That team would be the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs are the obvious choice for Ty Jerome's next home
The San Antonio Spurs are ready to take a leap forward.
Victor Wembanyama missed the second-half of the season to treat deep-vein thrombosis, but is expected to be ready for next season with no forward-reaching effects. He has already developed into a Top-10 player in the league (seriously; Jokic-SGA-Giannis-Tatum-Luka-Curry are top six. Wembanyama might be next?) and that means the Spurs are going to put players around him to start winning.
They started that last season by trading for De'Aaron Fox, and they will be star hunting this summer once more. They also landed the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, putting them in position to add another premier talent. They are currently expected to draft Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, which would give them a trio of guards all added in the last 12 months when you consider the new Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle.
Why would the Spurs target a guard in free agency when they have three guards they have invested in already on the roster? Two reasons. First, none of those guards are dynamic shooters. Castle's shot is a real problem, Harper was inconsistent in college and has a funky form, and Fox has proven over his career that hitting from outside is a skill that comes and gos. The Spurs need a guard who can shoot from outside consistently -- enter Jerome, He shot 43.9 percent from deep this season.
Secondly, there is a strong possibility that because of the difficult fit of those three guards, none of whom can space the court in a traditional sense, the Spurs may trade one of them this summer or at the Trade Deadline. At that point, having a ready-made replacement to step into a larger bench role and provide high-octane offense would make a lot of sense.
There will be other suitors; the Detroit Pistons could take a look, as could the Orlando Magic. The Brooklyn Nets have the cap space to offer a contract. The Toronto Raptors need an offensive-minded guard.
The front-runner, however, should be the San Antonio Spurs. They have the need, they have the spending power, and they have the drive to improve. Ty Jerome may be heading to defend the Alamo this summer.