The Memphis Grizzlies finally lost their first game of the year on Monday night. But, of course, Ty Jerome was still in history. The Grizzlies point guard has gone full Linsanity mode to start the season, stunning 40 points on 64% shooting against the Pelicans. He made five of six 3-pointers. He made seven of eight free throws.
With the Grizzlies trailing 124-115 at the 1:43 mark, Jerome engineered a personal 9-0 run to close out regulation and send it to overtime.
Less than two weeks from opening night (when Jerome put up 45 on the Jazz), it’s obviously too early to have a real MVP discussion. But if he could, Jerome would be in it. He is the league’s sixth leading scorer, averaging 28.3 points per game on 50/42/88 shooting splits.
People wonder: how is this possible? Wasn’t this guy a G League player? Yes, it was. But that was five years ago, and if you’ve been paying attention, you know that he would gradually make a leap as he earned more and more opportunities. It’s not to say that anyone could have seen this kind of scoring burst coming, but there were signs.
Jerome has long been a per-minute monster
Agfter bumping around with the Sun, Thunder and Warriors during the first four years of his career, Jerome, who played well every season especially in OKC and Golden State, broke out with the Cavs in the 2024-25 season. He averaged 12.5 PPG on 51/44 shooting splits, finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting, and became a legitimate scorer in the playoffs.
In Cleveland’s first round, Jerome averaged 16 PPG over the Tide, making 10 of his 20 3-pointers and shooting 51% overall. In Game 1, he scored 16 of his 28 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the fourth quarter.
Take a closer look at that season, and you’ll see that Jerome was close to being an all-time scorer for the regular season, averaging 22.7 points per 36 minutes. Better known was Jamal Murray, Tyrese Haliburton and Jimmy Butler, among many others. The only reason he wasn’t a 20 PPG scorer was that he only played 19.9 minutes per night on a Cleveland team that featured Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.
The Grizzlies saw this, and in the summer of 2025, signed Jerome to a three-year, $28 million contract, which now looks like the biggest non-rookie contract in the league. He only played in the last 15 games of the season, but was once again a monster minute.
After missing the first three months for a calf strain, Jerome scored 20 points in 20 minutes in his Grizzlies debut, and in the following six weeks he played 0.87 points per minute, the same mark as Kawhi Leonard and fourth best in the league among players who started at least 10 games.
The evidence is clear: if Jerome is in court, he is going to do twenty. It’s just a lot of fun. So far this season, he is playing 30 minutes per night, and is currently scoring 0.91 points in each of those minutes. That marks the fourth-best mark in the league among players who have played at least 100 minutes.
It’s not to say that Jerome is coming off an MVP-level start, but at the same time, this scoring wave he’s riding isn’t going anywhere. Cleveland signs back. As his minutes and usage went up, so did his scoring. He is simply playing more minutes now with a 31.3% usage rate equal to Jalen Brunson.
Again, Jerome is not a superstar. But don’t be put off by his dog’s play or his lack of athleticism in the NBA. He is too learned and always has been. It is a world-class shooter, catch and release, near and far. Returning to Cleveland, he consistently ranked as a North 90 center as both a rebounder and a rebounder and a solitary scorer, per Synergy. What he is doing at this time is not likely to start, but it also comes out of nowhere.