Cavs’ Trade For Lonzo Ball Potentially Signals End Of Ty Jerome Era

It was a great regular season, but Ty Jerome‘s run with the Cleveland Cavaliers may have reached its end.

That’s because the Cavs agreed to a trade for point guard Lonzo Ball, sending wing Isaac Okoro to the Chicago Bulls.

Meanwhile, Jerome is an unrestricted free agent, able to sign with any team and not allowing the Cavs to match. The trade for Ball seems to show that the Cavs either don’t want Jerome back or simply believe he is headed elsewhere.

That said, it’s not a done deal. Another way of looking at things is that Ball will simply take Okoro’s minutes as a wing. Jerome could return and continue his role as backup point guard to Darius Garland.

Though one opposing scout told Hoops Wire that scenario seems unlikely.

“I don’t think it means Jerome is 100 percent a goner,” the scout said. “But let’s just say I’d be surprised if he’s back.”

Jerome, 27, is coming off a career season in his first full year in averaging 12.5 points and 3.4 assists, and shooting 43.9 percent on 3-pointers, in 70 games. His resurgence was a big reason the Cavs finished 64-18, their best record without LeBron James on the team.

He was again brilliant in the first-round playoff sweep of the Miami Heat … then not so much in the second-round collapse vs. the Indiana Pacers. That performance against the Pacers may have cost Jerome some money and created some doubts for the Cavs on whether he was the long-term solution. Maybe not, but maybe, too.

Either way, with the start of free agency just a few days away, it will be interesting to see how the deal for Ball — a 6-foot-6 defensive whiz when healthy — impacts the future of Jerome in Cleveland. Many think it means Jerome will be elsewhere in 2025-26.

As an aside, sources who spoke to Hoops Wire suspect that Sam Merrill, another free agent guard, indeed will be back with the Cavs.