CLEVELAND, Ohio — Darius Garland’s toe surgery has altered the Cavs’ offseason priorities, transforming backup point guard Ty Jerome from a valuable rotation piece into perhaps the team’s most critical free agent signing.
With Garland potentially missing the start of the 2025-26 regular season, Jerome’s importance to the Cavs — and his leverage in contract negotiations — has skyrocketed.
“The priority of Ty Jerome being added back to this roster, I feel like we’ve talked about it being one of the top priorities for this team already, but now it might be priority No. 1 for the Cavs to get Ty Jerome back,” said Ethan Sands on the Wine and Gold Talk podcast.
The Cavaliers already valued Jerome before the Garland news broke.
As Chris Fedor explained: “The Cavs came into this offseason and I was told that Ty Jerome was a priority of theirs, somebody that they wanted to resign. Ty wants to be here. The Cavs want him to be here. It’s about is Dan Gilbert willing to spend in the luxury tax?”
That luxury tax question has now taken on greater importance.
Already projected to be a second apron team, now with Garland sidelined, Jerome’s role would expand significantly at the start of the season, making him more valuable to Cleveland — and potentially more expensive.
The timing gives Jerome and his representation leverage in negotiations.
“If your team Ty Jerome, today made it a lot easier for you to play some hardball,” Jimmy Watkins noted. “And one of the business aspects of the Darius Garland injury situation is that Jerome holds more power at the negotiating table. That’s just reality.”
The alternatives for Cleveland aren’t particularly appealing.
While they could slide Donovan Mitchell to point guard temporarily, that approach has limitations over an extended period.
Other free agent options like Spencer Dinwiddie, Monte Morris, and Malcolm Brogdon come with their own risks and limitations — and because of their cap situation, the Cavs can only offer minimum contracts to outside free agents.
The urgency to re-sign Jerome isn’t just about on-court production. Without him, the Cavaliers would face additional complications, including increased pressure on Garland to return prematurely.
“No. 1, that creates an inherent tension with Darius’s return. They’re going to be pressure for him to come back, which is not what you want, especially given what we just talked about for 15 minutes about injury status listings,” Watkins explained.
The situation also risks putting excessive strain on Mitchell early in the season: “No. 2, you’re putting more miles on Donovan. That’s not what you want to do.”
For Jerome, this represents a rare opportunity in a market with few teams possessing significant cap space.
Brooklyn appears to be the most likely external suitor, but the Cavs now have a stronger case to make regarding his role and importance.
As the Cavaliers prepare for what they hope will be a championship-contending season, securing their backup point guard has become their most pressing offseason concern — and potentially a more expensive proposition than they anticipated just days ago.
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._