After injuries and limited opportunities for playing time held back guard Ty Jerome from making a name for himself at the NBA level in years past, he’s played some of the best basketball of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.
He averaged a career-high 12.5 points per game in the regular season and ended up as one of the finalists for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, even if he didn’t take home the hardware.
Jerome will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and likely will have his fair share of suitors with how well he’s playing for Cleveland, but he said prior to the start of the 2025 NBA Playoffs that he would “love to be back” with the Cavaliers.
“I think I have an amazing situation here with a coaching staff that empowers me and a team that empowers me,” Jerome told HoopsHype. “Obviously, I’d love to be back. We’ve just got to see how it plays out.”
The former University of Virginia standout is arguably playing even better in the 2025 NBA Playoffs than he did in the regular season. He’s averaging 14.7 points and 5.0 assists per contest across six playoff games thus far. Jerome is also shooting an impressive 39.3 percent from 3-point range.
But the context behind Jerome’s comments about wanting to stick around in Cleveland is important because the Cavaliers are now in danger of coming up well short of winning a title.
Cleveland won 64 of its 82 regular-season games and then swept the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs, but it has had a rough go of things in its second-round matchup against the Indiana Pacers. Granted, guard Darius Garland has yet to play in the best-of-seven series and big man Evan Mobley was sidelined for Game 2, but the Cavaliers are in a 2-0 series hole and lost each of their first two contests at home.
Jerome is also on the heels of maybe his worst playoff game as a member of the Cavaliers. In Tuesday’s Game 2, he mustered only two points and misfired on all but one of his 14 shots from the field.
If the Cavaliers flame out in the second round, maybe fans of the team should be a bit worried about Jerome’s chances of re-signing with Cleveland in the summer.
