Sam Merrill was on the golf course when he found out from his agent that the Cleveland Cavaliers offered him a four-year, $38 million deal this summer. As expected, the news derailed his round, but that’s
something he’s okay with. Merrill has worked his whole career for a guaranteed deal like this.
“It’s a big blessing,” Merrill said, “to be able to finally be in a spot where I know I’m going to be. It’s been a lot of ups and downs throughout my career so far.”
There certainly have been.
Merrill’s path to the Cavs took many turns. He was the 60th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, but received little playing time and was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies a year later. A season-ending ankle injury in December cut his sophomore campaign short in Memphis and resulted in him being waived shortly thereafter. Merrill then earned a training camp invite from the Sacramento Kings the following summer, but Matthew Dellavedova beat him out for the final roster spot.
At that point, Merrill strongly considered pursuing a career overseas. However, he was convinced by his agent to stay stateside and give the G League a shot since that’s the easiest path to the NBA. The Cleveland Charge took him with the first overall pick in the 2022 G League Draft.
Even though Merrill was playing a few blocks away at the Wolstein Center, it took a while for the Cavs or any NBA team to take notice of what he was showing with the Charge.
“I remember towards the end of that G League season, we played a team twice, it was one of those baseball series,” Merrill said. “My agent told me before that [an NBA team was] coming to specifically watch me, that the front office was coming to watch me, and felt like there was a lot of interest there. And I played pretty well both games. And the next day, they signed some veteran that wasn’t going to play.
“I remember that night being like, man, is this it? Am I just going to finish the G League season then try to find a Euro League job or something?”
That team’s loss was the Cavs’ gain.
Cleveland signed Merrill to a 10-day contract the following day, then eventually gave him a non-guaranteed three-year deal that ran through the end of the 2024-25 season.
“I joke with them that they took longer than they needed to, but I’m just grateful that they took a chance and invested in me,” Merrill said.
The Cavs had a difficult choice this summer. Merrill and Sixth Man of the Year finalist Ty Jerome were unrestricted free agents. Cleveland could’ve technically signed both, but because the team was above the second apron, they decided that doing so would’ve been impractical. They ended up choosing the one that they couldn’t replace.
“If you look back at last year, essentially Sam Merrill and Ty Jerome were playing on minimum contracts,” president of basketball operations Koby Altman said. “In this salary cap era, you can’t keep everybody. … Sam provides a different skill set that is really really hard to find. We will miss the playmaking of Ty, but I do think we’ll be able to assume that from other pieces that we have on the roster. But the movement shooting, the competitiveness, the toughness of Sam, he’s such a culture piece.”
The Cavs enter this season with championship aspirations. They will need every member of their rotation to step up in the postseason if they’re going to carry their regular-season success into the playoffs. That includes Merrill who’s spent this summer rounding out his game.
“I want to continue to diversify my game,” Merrill said. “I’m not changing a whole lot about who I am, but I’ve worked really hard this summer on adding a mid-range game, adding some floaters so that I can try to diversify as much as I can.”
Merrill has been working his whole career to prove that he’s an NBA player. Even though he’s shown that he is over the last two seasons, he’s now being paid like it and has the stability that comes with a multi-year, guaranteed deal.
Some players take their foot off the gas when they achieve a contract they’ve been working for throughout their careers. For others, it gives them the certainty and confidence to be their best selves. I’d bet on Merrill being in that latter grouping.
“Hopefully, I’m going to be here for a few years,” Merrill said, “but at the same time, you want to play well whether you’re on a minimum or a max contract. … So my focus hasn’t changed. I think my resolve is now stronger to be the best player I can be and help this team get to the next level.”
