Sam Merrill has spent most of his NBA journey fighting for every inch, and that edge has carried all the way to Cleveland.
The Cavs guard arrived in the league as the final pick in his draft class, then spent his rookie season on the margins despite being around a championship locker room with the Milwaukee Bucks. The road after that only got bumpier.
Injuries, trades and a 2022 preseason release from the Kings sent him to the Cleveland Charge, but by the end of that season he was on a guaranteed deal. By the summer of 2025, he had turned that climb into a four-year contract.
Even after the best season of his pro career, Merrill still doesn’t always get talked about like one of Cleveland’s key pieces. But the numbers and the fit make the case pretty quickly: the Cavs were 37-15 in the 52 games he played last year, a pace that would have landed them in the 58/59-win range over a full season. Without him, they were just 15-15, and the difference showed up everywhere.
Merrill gave Cleveland nearly 13 points per game, knocked down 42% of his threes and led the team in charges drawn. He was also part of one of the defining hustle plays of the postseason, taking an aggressive elbow from Ausar Thompson that resulted in a charge and helped swing Game 7 of last year’s playoff series with the Pistons.
Donovan Mitchell drives the engine, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen finish the work, but Merrill adds the kind of movement and spacing that keeps the whole thing humming. He lives off screens, stays in the right spots and keeps defenders occupied. On top of that, the 6-foot-4 guard may be the most underrated perimeter defender on the roster.
The Cavs had a real decision to make in the 2025 offseason between Merrill and Ty Jerome, and they chose Merrill. So far, that call looks justified.
He’s never going to fire away with the volume of Stephen Curry or Damian Lillard, and nobody in Cleveland expects him to. What he does bring is elite accuracy. In 2025-26, he reached 3+ made threes per game for the first time, and if a thumb issue on his shooting hand hadn’t slowed him down, that number could have been closer to 4.0.
What makes him underrated right now is how little noise he’s made outside the team. The Cavs have spent plenty of time in the spotlight because of their overall talent, LeBron sweepstakes chatter and trade rumors about adding another big wing, but Merrill has mostly slipped through the cracks even though he’s their best shooter.
That won’t last forever. He shows up, does the job and keeps the offense moving even when the shots aren’t falling.
His gravity alone matters. And in Cleveland, that’s turning into a real thing.
Merrill Mania is here.
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Cavaliers Are Closing In On Peyton Watson With One Big Obstacle Left
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Peyton Watson is now the preferred target after Clevelands pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga became more complicated, but there is still work left before anything can be finalized. The biggest issue now is finding a trade partner willing to absorb Max Strus contract, and until that gets solved, the rest of the Watson framework remains stuck in place. [Read more 🡒]