The Grizzlies will sign free agent guard Ty Jerome to a three-year contract worth $28MM, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will include a third-year player option, Charania adds.
It has been a busy Monday evening for the Grizzlies, who had already agreed to new deals with Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama, and Cam Spencer. Jerome’s contract will come out of the room exception, which can be worth up to about $27.7MM over three seasons.
Reports leading up to free agency stated that Memphis was the frontrunner to sign Jerome, who is coming off a career year with Cleveland in which he averaged 12.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 70 games (19.9 minutes per contest). He also posted an elite shooting line of .516/.439/.872.
While Jerome was excellent in the Cavaliers’ first-round playoff series vs. Miami, he struggled mightily on both ends of the court in their second-round loss to Indiana. That may have limited his earnings potential to an extent.
Still, it’s surprising that Jerome will “only” make $27.7MM over the next three years, considering the Cavs agreed to give another backup guard — Sam Merrill — a four-year, $38MM deal. Merrill is a better defender, but Jerome was far more productive on offense last season.
Either way, Jerome will secure the first major payday of his career as he nears his 28th birthday (July 8).
Wasnt he on a 2 way contract with Warriors just 2 seasons ago???? WOW!
You know how Kerr treats the young players
Yeah, Kerr is so terrible that Jerome went from a 10-day contract with the Warriors to a 2 year guaranteed contract with the the Cavs. His Grizzlies contract is 5 times what it was with the Cavs. His career certainly went downhill after Kerr got a hold of him
Giants – the point is the warriors had him, and need him, but Kerr cannot develop players. He has high standards which is expected but how has he never never developed a single guard? Podz is the only one who managed to hang in that system.
It started out as a 10-day contract.
Tunnel vision Ty ….. he’ll help in the regular season.
So this guy doesn’t play defense right? Good deal otherwise.
He can be opportunistic. But fans won’t notice his defense as much as the coaches will. Fans will be excited about his offense. Just the kind of firepower you want off the bench.
At only $9M there clearly wasn’t the market for Jerome that was advertised
He’s a surprisingly good defender. Comes up with a lot of steals
He might start if they blow it up and move Ja by deadline or next year.
He couldn’t work something out with the Cavs for that kind of money??