Jaylon Tyson enters year three with a real opening in front of him, and the Cavaliers are handing him a role that could push him into the league’s Most Improved conversation.
That was not the path Tyson followed as a rookie. He barely played despite being a first-round pick. Then came the leap in his second season, when he finished inside the top five in the league in three-point percentage and brought the kind of energy and tenacity Cleveland needed while injuries piled up around the roster.
The rise wasn’t perfectly smooth. Tyson had a rough playoff showing, and after the James Harden trade, he never quite got his footing back.
He was also buried behind veterans such as Max Strus, Dean Wade, and Sam Merrill. But the roster picture has changed now.
Wade and Strus are gone, Peyton Watson and Mario Hezonja are in, and Tyson has a much clearer runway.
He’s expected to be the Cavs’ sixth man, and that role comes with a chance to matter in a bigger way. Tyson already showed flashes of another level, none bigger than his 39-point outburst against Philadelphia in January, a game that also featured the game-winning assist to Evan Mobley.
Now the task is consistency. For the first time in his young career, Tyson has a defined job, and that matters.
Last season, he was asked to handle different roles and positions for Cleveland. He managed to stand out anyway, but stability should help him even more.
His assignment is straightforward: lead the bench unit. That group struggled badly in the playoffs and leans young, though Merrill will also be a key part of it. Still, this is Tyson’s opportunity to drive the second unit.
The fit is there. Offensively, he has the kind of versatility that can make a bench scorer dangerous.
He can work on the ball and away from it, and his short-roll game stands out. On defense, he’s strong on the ball, while the next step is becoming better off it.
If Tyson puts it all together, he has the profile of the perfect sixth man for this team. Another jump would put him squarely in the Most Improved Player race.
He already had a strong case for roughly half of last season before fading late. This time, the challenge is to sustain it.
If he does, he won’t just be in the mix - he could win it.
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