Former USU standout Sam Merrill is making his NBA dreams come true with the Cleveland Cavaliers
CLEVELAND — Growing up in Bountiful, Sam Merrill was as big of a Utah Jazz fan as anyone else, but becoming an NBA player wasn’t even something that crossed his mind.
He figured it was smarter to set his goals on something that seemed more realistic and more attainable. He dreamed of playing Division I basketball, but in his junior year at Utah State, he got the chance to play some pickup basketball against some Jazz players, and ones he idolized — Donovan Mitchell and Georges Niang.
“You watch him work tirelessly, every single day, and he works at game speed, so these reps aren’t new to him. But I mean, this is what the NBA is about, it’s about making dreams come true.” — Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Sam Merrill
It was during those pickup games that Merrill started to feel like maybe he could realize loftier dreams, that maybe his dreams should include the NBA.
“That was about the time where I felt like it was a possibility,” Merrill said on Wednesday night. “It was fun playing with high-level guys. I was starting to make some real strides as a player. It’s funny how that’s been about six, seven years ago now and I’ve kind of come full circle.”
Coincidentally, Merrill is now playing his best basketball and has a huge opportunity with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he is teammates with both Mitchell and Niang.
On Wednesday night, Merrill had a career-high 27 points to lead the Cavs in a win over the team he grew up watching.
While the No. 1 dream obviously would have been to play for the Jazz, having a career night against them, scoring a game-high 27 and hitting eight 3-pointers is a very close second.
“Yeah, it is for sure,” Merrill said. “It’s always different when we’re playing them and I’m walking by their locker room and it says ‘Utah Jazz,’ just knowing how much I liked them.”
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But even as Merrill embarked on an NBA career, it hasn’t been the easiest journey. He was the very last pick of the 2020 draft, taken 60th by the New Orleans Pelicans and soon after traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
There were many times over the last few years when Merrill thought that maybe he just wasn’t cut out for the NBA, that the loftier dream wasn’t going to pan out.
Since being drafted he’s played in just 56 NBA games and even this year has 12 DNPs while having played in just 15 games for the Cavaliers. The road has not been easy, something that Niang can relate to.
“It’s a grind, right?” Niang said. “The league is so unexpected, so you never know when it’s going to happen. You just have to continue to wake up and chop wood, carry water and continue to push through and you just never know. You’ve just got to be relentlessly patient.”
Cleveland has been dealt some tough news as of late. Darius Garland is sideline with a jaw fracture, Evan Mobley will be out for at least six weeks after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, and Mitchell missed Wednesday’s game due to illness, leaving the team without three of their starters against the Jazz.
But on Monday night against the Houston Rockets, Merrill stepped up and scored a then-career-high 19 points, only to turn around two days later and continue his success against his hometown team.
For the Cavs and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, seeing Merrill’s work pay off and for him to not only be successful as a shooter — which is what he is known for — but also as a defender, could make finding Merrill a larger role a bit of a priority.
“Obviously the injuries kind of force your hand,” Bickerstaff said. “But, this isn’t something that just happened overnight. You watch him work tirelessly, every single day, and he works at game speed, so these reps aren’t new to him. But I mean, this is what the NBA is about, it’s about making dreams come true.”
