Latest news with #TyJerome
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cavaliers free agency: Ty Jerome is top target, question mark for Cleveland
Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome had a breakout season, but his year ended on a similar down note as the rest of the Cavs with a second-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. Two questions remain heading into the summer: Will Jerome be back, and what changes will the Cavs make before the 2025-26 season? Advertisement Jerome produced a dynamic 2024-25 season, transforming from a rarely used backup guard into one of the best bench players in the league and a major reason why the Cavs finished with arguably the NBA's No. 1 offense. After playing in only two games in 2023-24, he became a staple in Kenny Atkinson's rotation and finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting. His production, though, cratered in a 4-1 series loss to the Pacers. Potential suitors will have to weigh his postseason performance against his outstanding regular season once he's officially on the open market. Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome reacts during the second half against the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of the second round of the NBA playoffs, May 13, 2025, in Cleveland. What is Cavs' interest level in re-signing Ty Jerome? Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman said Monday, May 19, the Cavs would love to have Jerome back. He also left the door open for the team to extend itself into the second apron. Ty Jerome free agency a main question for Cavaliers offseason But Jerome's future in Cleveland remains in doubt. He is an unrestricted free agent expected to receive a significant pay raise after he made roughly $2.5 million in each of the last two seasons. Advertisement The Cavaliers might be able to come out as the top bidder, but there will be consequences to it unless other major moves are made. As constructed, the Cavaliers enter the offseason with one of the highest payrolls in the league, projected to be around $234 million. Two major factors have elevated that number and likely made it more difficult — or perhaps just more painful — to keep Jerome. The first was the De'Andre Hunter trade, which not only added his salary but also took Caris LeVert's expiring deal off the books. That was an aggressive move with the thinking that Hunter's acquisition could be the last piece for a title run. The other was Evan Mobley winning Defensive Player of the Year, which triggered an escalator in his contract extension. Advertisement The Hunter trade, at least, was a deliberate move, and the Cavs knew the potential fallout this summer. While Atkinson and the Cavs have perhaps the top offense in the NBA, it all comes with a price tag. Donovan Mitchell ($48.7 million), Darius Garland ($39.4 million), Mobley ($38.6 before the escalator), Hunter ($23.3 million) and Jarrett Allen ($20 million) are all signed long term. What is the NBA's second apron? The NBA's second apron is the closest thing to a hard salary cap the league has in place. The Cavs are projected to be over this second apron, and a Jerome signing would push them further above it. Advertisement Teams that spend above the second apron threshold are subject to severe consequences that impact their ability to build the roster. The exact number won't be determined until July, but it has been projected to sit at $207 million. Barring a major shakeup of the roster, the Cavs will be over this number — it's just a question of how much. Teams above the second apron cannot acquire sign-and-trade players. They are limited to trades they can make when it comes to salary matching. They no longer have access to the mid-level exception. They cannot trade first-round picks seven years in the future like other teams can. They cannot use trade exceptions from prior years, and they cannot use trade exceptions when combining the salaries of multiple players. All of that is in addition to harsh tax penalties the higher teams go over the first and second aprons. Advertisement And if teams remain in the second apron over a long-term period, they're subject to additional penalties in a several-year period. As Altman noted, it further puts pressure on the end of the bench and the back end of the roster. In other words, the NBA's second apron is designed to still allow teams to spend like crazy if they want, but it'll begin to hurt if that spending continues for too long. So when looking at re-signing Jerome, especially, the Cavs must grapple with how much they want to mess with those consequences in addition to Jerome's potential interest elsewhere. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Cavs free agents 2025, Ty Jerome, Sam Merrill lead class
New York Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Cavaliers' reward for moderate success is a series of difficult offseason choices
It took a long time for Ty Jerome and De'Andre Hunter to get here. Teammates at the University of Virginia for two years who won a national championship together in 2019, the two became best friends who stayed in constant touch through the ups and downs of their first five pro seasons. Then, out of the blue, both erupted with career years in 2024-25. At midseason, Hunter was traded to Cleveland, and he and Jerome were reunited — on a team called the Cavaliers, no less — their lockers often paired next to each other on road trips. Cleveland won its first 12 games with the two in the lineup, briefly taking the two to a staggering 46-3 record lifetime when they played together before some late-season losses took some shine off the percentage. Advertisement Now it might be over, chemistry and friendship be damned. Cleveland's five-game defeat to the Indiana Pacers puts the Cavs' future with this suddenly expensive roster in question. Jerome is a free agent the team might not be able to afford, and Hunter is a $24 million sixth man who similarly might not have a place in the team's salary structure going forward. Those are but two of the myriad questions facing the Cavs entering the summer. The real issue here isn't Cleveland's playoff setback, however, but the collective bargaining agreement and the second-apron payroll threshold. If there's one thing everyone expected from the new CBA in 2023, it's that it would force successful teams to make hard choices under increasingly oppressive salary-cap circumstances. On that front, it's perhaps been a little too successful. A cap-rules regime originally intended as a flex on the spendthrift owners of the LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors instead seems set to inflict its wrath on almost any team that dares to succeed at a high level. No matter how much teams win or how many bonds they share, the might of the apron is inevitable. Take the Cavaliers, for instance, a 64-win team that was basically a monument to disciplined, creative team-building in the salary-cap era and is now home as a result of some combination of injuries, shooting luck, roster duplication and — we should certainly add — the torrid play of the Pacers. The Cavs aren't alone. The Eastern Conference's other 60-win juggernaut, the Boston Celtics, faces a virtually identical calculus as they try simultaneously to manage both the potential penalties for a staggering payroll and the fallout from an Achilles injury to Jayson Tatum. Other rivals still alive and kicking in the postseason — including those Pacers — face faded versions of this same dilemma, either immediately or soon after. Even Oklahoma City won't be immune, though its day of reckoning lies safely tucked away behind a cellar door that won't open for 13 months. Advertisement Life comes at you fast in the NBA, with windows for contention opening wide then slamming shut with ever-quickening cadence, and the new rules only make it faster. But let's get back to Cleveland. What makes the tough decisions for Cleveland even tougher is something that should have the Cavs beaming: Evan Mobley won Defensive Player of the Year. Mobley signed a max extension last summer with a 'Rose Rule' provision that pays him 30 percent of the cap if he wins Defensive Player of the Year or makes All-NBA. He's already done the former and is extremely likely to achieve the latter soon, and that adds nearly $8 million to his cap hit next year. (He will make a projected $46.4 million instead of $38.7 million.) Unfortunately, in the apron world, every dollar counts, even if ownership is willing and able to shoot money out of a firehose. The Cavs are $27.3 million over the projected 2026 luxury-tax line with only 10 players under contract; even if they fill those last four roster spots with minimum contracts, the Cavs will be roughly $34 million over the tax and $15 million over the projected second apron line of $207.8 million. Being over the second apron subjects Cleveland to a draconian transactional regime. It means the Cavs can't sign any free agents for more than the minimum, can't make any trades that aggregate salary or take on more money than is sent out, can't sign-and-trade their free agents, can't use cash in trades to incentivize salary dumps and may only use rotary-dial land-line phones to make trade calls. And that calculus is before they spend any money to bring back free agents like Jerome or Sam Merrill or try to add another wing with size or attempt to add another piece by putting their 2031 first-round pick in play. In theory, the Cavs could damn the torpedoes for a span of two seasons before the real, lasting damage from the second apron hits in the form of a frozen draft pick that is moved to the end of the 2033 first round. But the tax penalties alone from a roster this expensive are sobering; the Cavs would face a nine-figure luxury-tax bill on top of the roughly $225 million going out in salaries. Between tax and penalties, their team would be nearly twice as expensive as one that stayed at the tax line. Advertisement What's true for the Cavs is more starkly true for Boston, which currently stands $37 million over next year's projected tax line before it spends a single cent to try to bring back Luke Kornet or Al Horford. (One relevant question is whether the 38-year-old Horford might ride off into the sunset if New York eliminates the Celtics this week.) Tatum's injury on some level makes Boston's decision process easier: Of course they're going to get under the second apron now. (They'll likely get all the way below the tax line to avoid getting further hammered by the 2023 CBA's more draconian repeater tax.) One further note for those asking: Boston will likely get a $27 million injured player exception for Tatum, but this will be functionally irrelevant for its payroll decisions because all that money counts toward the tax and aprons. The Celtics were already sizing up their need to drop salary in the summer of 2025 even as they were romping to the championship in 2024. Subtract Tatum's injury, and Boston was still wrestling with the certainty of needing to trade at least one of the four expensive core players around him (Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White), who alone combine to make $144 million next season. But, I digress; back to Cleveland: Yes, the Cavs can likely re-sign Jerome using his early Bird rights, but a $10 million salary for him will cost the Cavs … (checks notes) … $62.5 million. This takes us back to hard choices and to the likely subtraction discussions that the Cavs must have before they even think about additions. The Cavaliers can't have Isaac Okoro soaking up $11 million and being mostly unplayable in the postseason. They probably can't even have Dean Wade at $6 million. Even Cleveland's good players are questions now. Merrill and Jerome were incredible scrap-heap finds, but both are now due for paydays; can the Cavs afford to upgrade their minimum deals, or do they need to find the next Sam Merrill and Ty Jerome? Hunter is a good player who was a notable upgrade on the departed Georges Niang and Caris LeVert, but is he an indulgent luxury when the five starters alone make $170 million? Inevitably, that takes us to the elephant in the room: Darius Garland. Under contract for three more years at $167 million, he is both one of the biggest reasons for Cleveland's success and one of the biggest potential vulnerabilities. Advertisement With Donovan Mitchell's strengths (jaw-dropping awesomeness for the first three games against Indiana) and weaknesses (running out of gas in Game 2 and turning into mush in Game 4) on display for a second consecutive postseason run, is Garland the right player to have next to him? Can the Cavs afford to have a backcourt this small, with partners this brittle, and expect to make deep postseason runs? Remember, this is the second straight postseason Cleveland's All-Star core has physically tapped out in May. The right Garland deal could potentially reinvent the team, loosen up some of the financial strings and keep this Mitchell-Mobley Cleveland core in title contention. The wrong one, or the wrong decision on the other roster spots, could drag this group back to the pack and snuff out their hopes of a second banner. No pressure, then. But that's the dilemma every good team faces now once its star players age out of rookie contracts; we've already seen Memphis wrestle with it, and Houston and Orlando are up next. At some level, it's a great problem for Koby Altman and the Cavs front office to have; you only deal with issues like these if you add Mobley and Mitchell and win 64 games in the first place. But that doesn't change the reality of an offseason decision tree that has a lot more dead branches than promising buds. (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: Maddie Meyer, Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
Indianapolis Star
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Cavs' mental and physical toughness is being tested by Pacers: 'This is an uphill battle'
Game 2: Pacers at Cavaliers, 7 p.m., Tuesday; TV: TNT Throughout Cleveland's sweep of Miami, the Cavs trailed for just 17:10. In Game 1 vs. the Pacers, they trailed for 40:57. CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers could have used some of the edge in Game 1 with which guard Ty Jerome answered an innocuous question after the Indiana Pacers punched them in the mouth to begin a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series. What is Jerome's confidence level in the Cavs being able to bounce back the way they need to for Game 2? 'What you think? You think I'm going to say we think we're going to lose? We're confident,' Jerome said. As the East's No. 1 playoff seed, the Cavs have earned the right to be confident, and their self-assurance shouldn't waver after a 121-112 loss to the fourth-seeded Pacers on Sunday at Rocket Arena. But this much is clear as the Cavs face a 1-0 series deficit ahead of Game 2 on Tuesday in Cleveland: Their mental and physical toughness is being tested by the Pacers. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. Throughout the Cavs' 4-0 sweep of the Miami Heat in Round 1, Cleveland trailed for just 17 minutes, 10 seconds. In Game 1 against the Pacers, the Cavs trailed for 40 minutes, 57 seconds. The Cavs entered the opening round commending the Heat's championship culture and proceeded to roll to a combined margin of victory of 122 points, the largest point differential in NBA playoff history. Round 2 is a different animal. An old boxing adage is styles make fights, and the Cavaliers will need to fight for their postseason lives because of how the Pacers play. Indiana's five-out offense and up-tempo pace are major obstacles. 'It's going to be a fun series. It's going to be a real fun series,' Jerome said. With the exception of the Cavs' 22-4 run in the third quarter, the Pacers had most of the fun in Game 1. Indiana used its elite transition offense to put Cleveland on its heels in the first half, and the Pacers shot lights out throughout the game. They went 44-of-83 shooting from the field (53%), including 19-of-36 on 3-pointers (52.8%). The Cavs went 45-of-98 shooting from the floor (45.9%), including 9-of-38 on 3s (23.7%). 'We've got to find a way to still win this game, even though we don't make shots,' Cavs All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell said. The Cavaliers couldn't gut out an ugly win, though. They were 'in the blender' early, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson explained, because of the Pacers' knack for running the floor. Cleveland had received ample warning it would need its track shoes, yet experiencing Indiana's speed in the playoffs and practicing for it are two different things. The Cavs lamented their lack of ball movement on offense. Staying disciplined and adhering to their principles comes with the type of mental fortitude they'll need to display in Game 2. The Cavs also failed to play with adequate force on defense. They will need to ramp up their physicality to prevent the Pacers from running freely and to apply more pressure in the half court. Mitchell said he's '1,000%' sure the Pacers will continue to challenge the Cavaliers mentally and physically. In other words, buckle up. The Pacers were in the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago. 'It would have been great to come in here and sweep these guys, too, but that's not how this works, man,' Mitchell said. 'This is an uphill battle. 'The biggest thing is just how do you respond. Look at the film. But this is what it's about. Mentally, physically, continually going and going and going. They hit first, and we've got to respond.' Mitchell scored a game-high 33 points, surpassing Michael Jordan for the longest streak in NBA history with 30-plus points in eight consecutive playoff series openers. However, Mitchell took 30 shots to reach his total, finishing 13-of-30 from the field (43.3%), including 1-of-11 on 3-pointers (9.1%). 'I always try to be aggressive to start a series, but Jordan won Game 1. I didn't,' Mitchell said. Jerome had 21 points off the bench on 8-of-20 shooting from the field (1-of-4 on 3s) and eight assists. All-Star forward Evan Mobley had 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor (2-of-5 on 3s) and 10 rebounds. Led by guards Andrew Nembhard with 23 points and Tyrese Haliburton with 22 points, the Pacers had six players reach double figures in scoring. Haliburton also had 13 assists. Meanwhile, the Cavs had their All-Star point guard, Darius Garland, ruled out shortly before Game 1 with a sprained left big toe. He has missed the past three games, including the final two against the Heat, and his status for Game 2 is uncertain. Mobley will likely be pushing through an ankle injury. He said he 'came down wrong a little bit' on a hook shot against Pacers center Myles Turner, who posted a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Cavs wing De'Andre Hunter explained he suffered an injured finger as he fell to the floor after Pacers guard-forward Bennedict Mathurin blocked his shot. Hunter said he expects to play in Game 2 despite the injury. And Mitchell appeared to limp at times in the second half. Those setbacks are other ways in which the Cavs' physical and mental toughness are being tested. They will need to play Game 2 with an edge.
Observer
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Observer
Cavaliers sweep Heat with record-setting blowout
LOS ANGELES: Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched a 4-0 first-round series sweep with a 138-83 rout of the host Miami Heat on Monday night, the fourth-largest winning margin in an NBA playoff game. De'Andre Hunter (19 points), Ty Jerome (18) and Evan Mobley (17) all played their part, while Jarrett Allen finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds along with six first-half steals. Nikola Jovic sat out the first quarter before finishing with a career playoff-high 24 points for Miami, while Bam Adebayo posted 13 points and 12 boards. The emphatic Game 4 victory earned the No 1 seed Cavaliers a berth in the Eastern Conference semifinals, while ending the eighth-seeded Heat's season in humiliating fashion. The 55-point margin was Miami's biggest-ever postseason defeat, surpassing the previous record of 37 points set two days ago in Game 3. "We were humbled, but they (Cavaliers) had so much to do with how we looked," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "None of us would have guessed this series would have gone this way coming out of our two play-ins. They just took it to another level. They left us behind these last two games." Cleveland set up the blowout by trouncing the Heat 43-17 in the first period. After Miami briefly led 3-2 early, the Cavs went on a 13-0 tear to pull ahead 15-3. They were never threatened again, another 15-0 spree taking the score to 35-8. "Great leadership that first five minutes, led by our starters, then when our bench comes in we don't skip a beat - we get stronger," Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said. "We came here with the right mentality. ... We don't seem to have letdowns, and that's rare." Davion Mitchell buried a last-second prayer from almost halfway to close an otherwise horrific quarter from the Heat, outrebounded 14-8 and coughing up six turnovers for 11 points. Donovan Mitchell had 13 first-quarter points, including three 3-pointers, Hunter added 11, and Allen had 10 points and four steals. The Cavaliers shot 15 of 24 for the period, which included 6 of 11 from downtown, while the Heat misfired at 7 of 21 from the floor and 2 of 12 from deep. Jovic played all 12 minutes in the second and scored 12 of Miami's 16 points, while Cleveland added 29 to motor ahead 72-33 at the main break. The 39-point halftime deficit was the Heat's largest in any game in franchise history, regular season or playoff. Miami showed some fight in the third, but couldn't prevent the Cavs from winning the frame 39-30. Cleveland marched ahead 111-63 when Ty Jerome sank a 37-footer on the buzzer to end the quarter, before the margin topped out at 60 points (138-78) in the fourth. — AFP
USA Today
29-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
1 stat shows just how much the Cavaliers historically dominated the Heat
1 stat shows just how much the Cavaliers historically dominated the Heat The Cleveland Cavaliers earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, which means they faced the No. 8 seed in the opening round of the playoffs. Cleveland (64-18) had a relatively easy path to make the semifinals in the East, facing off against fairly mediocre competition. Miami (37-45) finished well below .500 during the regular season and traded franchise star Jimmy Butler before the NBA's trade deadline. The Heat had the tenth-best record in the conference but clawed its way into the final spot of the postseason by winning two crucial play-in games. But the two teams did not belong in the same arenas once the playoffs began in earnest, and by the final game, Cleveland was leading at one point by an absurd margin of 70-25. Cleveland outscored Miami by a whopping 122 points (and 88 points when Cavaliers reserve Ty Jerome was on the court) during the four-game sweep. If that sounds like a metric ton, that is because it is absolutely unheard of for two playoff teams. Before this, no team had ever outscored an opponent by more than 100 points in a four-game sweep. Miami big man Bam Adebayo expects that the organization will make several moves to improve the roster this offseason.
