Ask fans to name the league’s best offensive players, and few would mention a 29-year-old journeyman who has never dunked in an NBA game.
Yet Ty Jerome is forcing that conversation. The Memphis Grizzlies guard has led his team to four straight wins to open the season and was named Western Conference Player of the Week, averaging 29.8 points, 6.3 assists and only 1.8 turnovers.
The Ty Jerome Grizzlies breakout began on opening night, when he poured in 45 points against the Utah Jazz, the most by a Memphis player in a season opener. The home crowd responded with MVP chants. It is a stunning start for a team that ranked 24th in the preseason NBA power rankings.
A Scorer Who Breaks the Mold
At 6-foot-5, Jerome is neither explosive nor especially fast. He wins with sudden changes of pace and soft touch. Sportradar tracking credits him with a league-high 29 floaters, 10 more than anyone else, and he is making 59% of them.
He is also living at the line, averaging 8.3 free throw attempts per game, more than double last season’s rate. Even when Utah held him to 15 points on Monday, Memphis scored 121 points per 100 possessions with him on the court.
From Journeyman to Breakout Star
Advanced numbers flagged him early. Before the season, Estimated Plus-Minus rated him the ninth-best offensive player in the NBA, and DARKO placed him 14th, while major outlets left him out of their top 100 lists entirely.
That is remarkable given his path. The 24th pick in 2019 passed through Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Houston and Golden State before his game took off in Cleveland, and he has since carried that growth to Memphis.
If the Ty Jerome Grizzlies run continues, Memphis may have found an unlikely star hiding in plain sight.
