CLEVELAND, Ohio — The NBA loves a story of relentless growth, and Jaylon Tyson is living proof of why the league still has a soft spot for the underdog. And why the Cavs may have landed the steal of the 2024 draft.
The Most Improved Player of the Year award was practically made for players like him. Not lottery picks who blossom in a system built around them. Not No. 1 overall picks handed the keys to a team. Tyson, the No. 20 overall pick, is carving his path in just his second season through sheer work ethic, attention to detail and a willingness to learn from the players around him.
Now 23, Tyson has seized the opportunity that injuries have afforded him in Cleveland’s lineup. Jarrett Allen. Sam Merrill. Max Strus. Each absence has opened a door, particularly in the starting lineup, and Tyson has slowly built a room for himself.
His rookie numbers were modest: 47 games, three starts, 9.6 minutes, 3.6 points, 2.0 rebounds per game while shooting 43% from the floor and 34.5% from deep. This season, those numbers have exploded.
In just 20 games, Tyson is averaging 27.7 minutes, 13 points, 5.4 rebounds while shooting 52.9% from the floor and 46.7% from beyond the arc.
But Tyson knows the ultimate goal for this Cavs team would look better on his resume than any other individual award.
“We’re trying to win championships,” Tyson said before the season started. “So with me and my role on this team, I got to limit mistakes and make the winning plays — 50-50 balls for me should be 70-30 balls. Just doing the little things to help this team win.”
And he’s kept his word. From his constant intensity and energy to a willingness to do the dirty work — including guarding the other team’s best player — Tyson has become nearly indispensable.
Even though Isaac Okoro has moved on to the Bulls, the lessons he imparted linger in every play. Jaylon Tyson carries the wisdom of watching a veteran swingman — along with the insights gleaned from Donovan, Darius, Evan, and others — onto the floor each night, shaping him into the versatile, relentless player he is today.Jimmy Longo. Image provided by the Cleveland Cavaliers
“My confidence has grown tremendously just because I have a full year under my belt,” he said. ”Obviously, I didn’t get to play as much, but I got to learn what the NBA is and sit back and watch guys like Donovan [Mitchell], like Evan [Mobley], like Darius [Garland], watch how they move on a day-to-day basis and how the game is played and also watching Max. Max is a really good player. He’s the one I watched last year, so that helped me out for sure.”
Isaac Okoro, whose gritty, hard-nosed, point-of-attack defender role Tyson has essentially inherited since the Cavs traded their former No. 5 overall pick to the Bulls this past summer was another influence.
Tyson admired Okoro’s approach to the season. Taking it day by day, grinding in ways that don’t always show up in box scores. That mindset helped Tyson carve out his role and niche on a team with multiple All-Stars.
Along with a work ethic that kept him in Cleveland for a majority of the summer — refining his jump shot, crafting his body to withstand an 82-game stretch and working with trainers on how to best get more minutes — it’s the rigorous film sessions that have allowed the game to slow down in his mind, improving decision-making and offensive reads in transition.
“I can talk to him all I want,” Mitchell said of Tyson. “He pulled me aside a few weeks ago and was like, ‘Hey, I got the clips so we can watch this.’ At first, I was the one. Now he’s coming out there saying that. That shows how much he wants to. He wants to get better. You can talk about it all you want, but he’s going out there and doing it himself on a daily basis to the point where you have to tell him to sit down. … You’d rather that than tell somebody to have to come into the gym. He’s always one of the first guys there. There’s four of us that are always trying to beat each other. He’s always there, and that’s what you want to see.
“It’s just one of those things where you can’t take him off the floor. That’s a testament to him. And I’m really running out of nice things to say because he does it every night. Every single night, he’s doing something positive for us, and that’s what we need.”
Now, the expectations for Tyson are shifting. Kenny Atkinson has already started envisioning how Tyson might be used in the playoffs, months in advance.
Cleveland’s lineup experiments are set to intensify as injured players return, with coaches and players alike already feeling out who will man the small forward spot when the playoffs roll around.
De’Andre Hunter has started every game he’s played this season, a decision stemming from a summer conversation with Kenny Atkinson about whether he wanted to begin the year in the starting lineup or come off the bench. With Strus still sidelined recovering from offseason foot surgery, Hunter made it clear he wanted the starting role and the team has honored that request.
But how long he will hold onto that slot is uncertain.
When Tyson made his first NBA start last season, it was because the Cavs wanted to see how playing next to star players rather than role players would push his potential. The experiment worked, and that success has carried over with more data to back it up.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell low fives the hand of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jaylon Tyson during a timeout in the first half at Rocket Arena. John Kuntz, cleveland.com
The Core Four — Mitchell, Garland, Mobley and Allen — have shared the floor for just four games through Cleveland’s first 25 contests of 2025-26. Per NBA.com’s stats database, when Tyson was alongside them for 10 minutes in just one contest, the team posted a net rating of 112.4 per 100 possessions. An offensive rating of 160 and defensive rating of 47.6 per 100 possessions over 10 minutes. Even in a small sample size, that effectiveness is jarring.
Hunter’s numbers, by comparison, are solid but not as striking: three games with the Core Four for 43 minutes produced a net rating of 18.2 per 100 possessions, with a 124.2 offensive rating and 106.1 defensive rating.
But beyond the numbers, there’s a noticeable difference in impact and reliability.
Hunter has recently oscillated between productive and inconsistent. His 3-point percentage has dipped to a career low 32%, and on defense, he’s shown lapses, particularly off-ball. Against Hunter, players are cutting to the rim for easy opportunities or drifting to the corner for open looks. He gets caught helping on drives or tracking back, leaving his assignment momentarily unattended. These are subtle moments that matter deeply in the flow of NBA possessions, especially when the margin for error shrinks in the playoffs.
Atkinson has already hinted at wanting to use Hunter more with the second unit.
“Getting him in DHOs, getting his usage up a little, trying to get him with that second unit a little more so he can be a little more comfortable in that scoring role,” Atkinson said. “That’s been intentional, and that’s helped him.”
Before coming to Cleveland, Hunter had been in Sixth Man of the Year contention in Atlanta. When he arrived, his teammate and best friend Ty Jerome was also receiving Sixth Man of the Year votes.
Since Jerome’s exit, the Cavs’ bench has struggled for consistent scoring this season. Moving Hunter back to a reserve role wouldn’t be an easy conversation, but it could be a necessary one if the team wants to give itself the best chance at a title.
The 28-year-old thrives when the ball is in his hands, creating isolation opportunities or exploiting broken plays. A rhythm harder to maintain when star players dominate touches and attempts around him.
And don’t forget about Strus, who will re-enter the starting small forward conversation once healthy, offering spacing, cutting and gravity from beyond the arc — a dimension Cleveland has lacked with both Strus and Merrill sidelined.
But Tyson’s emergence adds another layer to this chessboard. He’s proven capable as a defensive pest, cutter, ball-handler, and sharpshooter, currently leading the team in 3-point efficiency.
“It wasn’t just on catch and shoot,” Atkinson said after Tyson’s 24-point performance against the Spurs on Friday. “…that was like, Cal Berkeley Jaylon Tyson. Handling, making plays, playmaking Jaylon. Which he has, which we don’t use very much. But listen, these are things in your toolbox. They start putting the weaker defenders on him. They’re denying Don, [and] he can make a play. So that bodes well for the future.”
Whether Tyson will cement himself as a mainstay in the Cavs’ starting lineup when the roster is fully healthy remains undecided. What is indisputable is that he has proven readiness and adaptability. He can fit a multitude of roles Cleveland needs on any given night.
In a season of uncertainty and rotation experiments, Tyson has quietly made a case for being a long-term, multi-dimensional piece in the Cavs’ evolving blueprint.