When Ty Jerome played 45 games for the Warriors in the 2022-23 season, he had some diehard fans — but I don’t think even the most steadfast Ty Jerome supporter saw this career arc coming from him. After signing a 3-year deal in the summer, then missing the entire first half of the NBA season, Jerome has finally taken the court for the Memphis Grizzlies. In his first six games, he’s been a revelation, averaging 19.7 points and 6 assists per game.

Last year, Jerome broke out as one of the best sixth men in the league for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was always a talented player; an NCAA champion with Virginia, he was a first-round pick in 2019.

His talent was never questioned, but he had injury issues immediately upon entering the league, and could never find his footing because of it.

Ty Jerome came into his own after leaving the Warriors

Jerome’s time with the Warriors was brief; he was a two-way player in 2022-23, playing about half the season with the big league club and spending the rest of it in Santa Cruz.

It’s hard to fault the Warriors for letting Jerome walk after the season, too. At that point, he looked more like a two-way player than a longterm starter, and he was already 25 years old, so a big breakout was hard to envision. (The Thunder had already given up on him, too, and that franchise can turn anyone into an NBA player.)

Boy, was that wrong! The breakout did come, and props to the Cleveland Cavaliers for seeing something that nobody else did. In 2023-24, the year after his season with the Warriors, Jerome played just two games before suffering another serious injury.

Entering the 2024-25 season, Jerome was 27 years old with more time missed due to injury than on-court success. But the Cavs (a team with a thoroughly underrated development program) stuck with him, and he finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting, leading to him signing a $27 million deal in Memphis.

Then came another injury — this time a calf strain — that kept him out months, before finally making his Grizzlies debut a few weeks ago. This has been the story of Jerome’s career; he keeps getting better, but his development is consistently interrupted with serious injuries.

Now healthy, Jerome is hooping! The Grizzlies aren’t winning any of these games, to be fair, but good for Jerome nonetheless.