Cavs’ Sam Merrill Glad To Be Back In The Mix: ‘This Is Where We Wanted To Be’

Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill is back on a reported four-year contract and says Cleveland is where he belonged all along.

“This is where we wanted to be,” Merrill told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “I’m super excited. Cleveland is a great city and it’s a first-class organization. They took a chance on me, so I have a ton of gratitude. It was going to take something pretty significant for us to consider leaving. I’m so glad we were able to work something out with the Cavs.”

Merrill went from just being a knock-down perimeter shooter off the bench to an intangibles guy this past season. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson couldn’t keep Merrill off the court — as Merrill’s defense and hustle-type play improved immensely.

Interestingly, his shooting took a small hit. He went 40.4 percent on 3-pointers in 2023-24 to just 37.2 percent this past season. That’s still a pretty decent number for most guys, just not for Merrill. If he can get it back up to the 39-percent range in 2025-26 … well, that would be big for both Merrill and the Cavs.

Anyway, along with Atkinson, no less than Cavs star Donovan Mitchell is a big Merrill fan. Mitchell and Merrill have been playing together since Mitchell was with the Utah Jazz and Merrill was the Luka Doncic of the Mountain West Conference at Utah State. Back then, they played in the same pickup games.

“I called him immediately after he signed,” Mitchell told Fedor. “I was happy for him. He deserves it. To see the evolution into what he has become, it’s big time. He has been through so much and to see him continue to take the steps and be rewarded for all that hard work, it’s special.”

Merrill appeared in 71 games last season, averaging 7.2 points and 20.7 minutes. His time on the court could increase moving forward.

“I know there is more to my game than just shooting 3s,” he said. “I’m already 29 years old and I’m not going to drastically change who I am. But I know there is more there. I didn’t quite have the shooting season I wanted to last season. At least, December and January, when I had to work through some things physically. I was pretty good after that. But it’s about back getting to the level I know I can be at as a shooter. And then, just getting little pieces of my game back.”