The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves at a crossroads following their shocking second-round playoff exit at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.
Despite dominating the Eastern Conference with a league-best 64-18 regular season record, the Cavaliers were eliminated in five games, triggering immediate speculation about potential roster changes.
In the decisive Game 5, even with stars Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Donovan Mitchell each playing over 30 minutes, Cleveland still fell short in a 105-114 defeat.
NBA insider Bobby Marks believes this playoff disappointment will force the Cavaliers to make difficult personnel decisions this offseason.
“I’ve said before what sometimes infuriates me is that when a team loses in the second round, we’re going to be shouting at the top of our lungs. We need to break this team up,” Marks commented on the immediate reaction to Cleveland’s elimination.
According to Marks, one player who might not return is sixth man Ty Jerome. Despite emerging as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate during the regular season, Jerome’s production declined significantly in the playoffs.
His scoring average dropped from 12.5 to 11.7 points per game, while his shooting efficiency plummeted from 51.6% to 40.2%.
“What’s going to happen to Cleveland is that there’s a chance you might lose Ty Jerome, who as your back-up, sixth man of the year candidate, had a really good regular season,” Marks explained.
“Really had a good moment in that Miami series, struggled a bit in the Indiana series. It feels like the more minutes Ty Jerome plays, the more minutes he gets exposed.”
Marks believes Jerome thrives in a specific role but becomes a liability with extended playing time: “He’s perfect in that 15 to 20 minute role coming off the bench, he’s not perfect if you’re going to ask him to play 25 minutes plus.”
Complicating Cleveland’s roster decisions is their precarious financial position above the second tax apron. This situation makes re-signing Jerome, an unrestricted free agent, particularly challenging.
Even more surprisingly, Marks suggests Garland could be on the move despite being part of Cleveland’s core: “Darius Garland, it’s hard for me to see Cleveland extending him. He has three years left on his contract.”
With these financial constraints and playoff disappointments, the Cavaliers might be forced to rebuild their backcourt exclusively around Mitchell this summer, potentially ending the Garland-Mitchell experiment after just two seasons.
