CLEVELAND, Ohio — The NBA offseason’s most surprising storyline isn’t about a superstar switching teams — it’s about a once-overlooked backup point guard commanding the full mid-level exception from contenders across the league.
Ty Jerome, who barely clung to an NBA roster years ago, has suddenly become one of the most intriguing free agents on the market, with multiple teams potentially willing to offer him up to $14.1 million. How did we get here?
“Imagine just a year ago he played two games, guys,” host Ethan Sands emphasized on the latest Wine and Gold Talk podcast. “Now we’re talking about teams willingly giving him all of their non-taxpayer mid-level exceptions to get him on the roster. The possibility, the potential. And now the Cavs are in a bidding war.”
This remarkable transformation from fringe player to coveted free agent has put the Cleveland Cavaliers in a precarious position.
They value Jerome tremendously, but matching offers from teams like Sacramento, Orlando, or Dallas could have massive financial implications.
Chris Fedor, cleveland.com’s Cavs beat reporter, identified exactly what makes Jerome’s free agency so fascinating: “I’ve talked to multiple people over the last couple of weeks to try and really get a sense of, of what Ty’s market is going to be like and what kind of price range we’re looking at. And a majority of the people that I’ve talked to about this, they all kind of fall the same way when it comes to Tai and they all use the same numbers, which is 12 to 14 million annually for somebody like Ty.”
The market dynamics are particularly interesting.
As Fedor explains, “This free agency class is due to and. And because of that, Ty is one of the people like Kyrie’s not going anywhere. James Harden’s not going anywhere. Fred VanVleet’s probably not going anywhere. So, Ty is actually one of the people that opposing executives around the NBA wonder about changing destination.”
It’s a seller’s market for a player with Jerome’s skill set. With 24 teams projected to have access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, the competition for his services could be fierce.
Sacramento needs a backup point guard. Orlando suddenly has financial flexibility after their Desmond Bane trade. Dallas could offer a path to a starting role if Kyrie Irving moves on in a couple of years. The options are tantalizing for a player who famously trash-talked Paolo Banchero with the line, “I’ll start on y’all team.”
For the Cavaliers, the calculation is complex.
They know Jerome fits their system perfectly and has a deep relationship with the organization. But meeting his market value could push them deeper into luxury tax territory — a territory where every dollar is magnified through punitive tax penalties.
What started as a minor offseason storyline has evolved into one of the most fascinating free agency battles of the summer.
Will Jerome stay with the team that helped revitalize his career, or will another organization make an offer too enticing to refuse?
Here’s the podcast for this week:
_Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Wine and Gold Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions._