Sam Merrill is Back in the Lineup and Ready to Start an Upward Trend

“Mr. Irrelevant” is such an unfair nickname for the final guy picked in the Draft. If a player is one of the 60 players in the world chosen by an NBA team, he’s relevant.

That doesn’t mean he’s not a major longshot.

The Cavaliers have had varied experiences with Mr. Irrelevant(s) over the years.

There’s Turkish big man, Semi Erden – the 60^th overall pick by Boston – who played part of two seasons as part of the Luke Harangody trade in 2011. There’s Isaiah Thomas – selected by Sacramento in 2011 and probably the best 60^th pick of all-time – who had a brief, tumultuous stay with Cleveland in 2017. And there’s Akron native, Chris Livingston – originally selected with the 58^th pick by Milwaukee in 2023 and currently averaging 15.3ppg with the Cleveland Charge.

And then there’s the Sam Merrill experience – currently in progress – and it’s been a rousing success.

Merrill’s journey to this point is well-documented. Drafted with the final pick out of Utah State by the Bucks in 2020. After winning the NBA title with Milwaukee, he was dealt to the Grizzlies the following summer. He was waived by Memphis, then waived by Sacramento, before inking a 10-day deal with the Cavaliers on March 3, 2023.

Merrill played just five games to finish the 2023 season, but by the next year, he found himself in the rotation, appearing in 61 games and shooting 40 percent from long-range. Last year, the 29-year-old appeared in 71 games, drilled 137 more triples and wound up starting three Playoff games later that spring.

This past summer, Merrill finally found some true NBA stability, signing a multi-year contract with the Wine & Gold and, as he’s done throughout his five-year stay in the league, provided excellent return on investment.

Merrill got off to an outstanding start to the 2025-26 season. Through his first six games, the 29-year-old guard drilled 26 triples and was shooting nearly 58 percent from long-range. But the injury bug bit him early, and a sprained right hand cost him 14 games in November and December.

He returned to the lineup on December 22, and after missing all four three-point attempts in his first game, drilled six the following night in a win over the Pelicans. In the New Year’s Eve win over Phoenix, he hit four bombs and on Sunday afternoon, he went 5-of-7 from deep against Detroit – his fifth game this season with at least five triples.

Overall, this year Merrill is shooting .436 from three-point range (65-of-149), good for 11^th best in the league, and is averaging a career-high 13.3ppg, nearly doubling last year’s scoring average.

Maybe his most essential number this year – and one Coach Kenny Atkinson likes to cite often to state his value – the Cavs are 13-6 with Merrill in the lineup; 7-11 without him. 

As Cleveland hits the road for a pair this week, the clean-cut, soft-spoken shooting guard they call “Sammy Buckets” sat down with Cavs.com to talk about the state of his season so far …

You signed a deal to stay with the club for the near future over the summer. How much does stability matter to a player?

Sam Merrill: I think it definitely helps, specifically for me and my family.

All I’d done since I've been in the league is moved around. Having a couple of years in Cleveland was nice, and that was a big reason why this was the place we wanted to be, just having that stability. You never know for sure what can happen (in the league), obviously, but this is a place where we could be for a few years and not have to move again and stay in our house and all that.

And then, obviously, the stability within the organization – knowing the coaching staff, knowing my teammates, the front office. It's place where I have a lot of great relationships.

So, for me, it's really important. Just with my first few teams, it was like: you met great people, but constantly having to meet and get to know new people, and they don't know you very well. People scout you and whatnot, but they may not really know your strengths and your weakness.

This is now my fourth year with the guys back in the G-League – Mike (Gerrity) and Omar (Cook) – and the front office and the fourth year with a bunch of these players as well, so it's been great.

Coach Atkinson has talked about you becoming more of a leader this year. How have you embraced that role?

Merrill: I've definitely tried to use my voice a little more, it’s something we’ve talked about quite a bit.

I think these guys know that I know who I am as a player. I'm not I'm not trying to be someone that I'm not. But, again, having spent multiple years now with most of these guys, we all have trust in each other. And I think these guys understand that I tend to see things pretty well – and from a different angle – and can communicate it effectively.

And especially with Max (Strus) out. Like, it’s different when Max is around. He's a big voice for us. So, I've been trying to kind of step in his shoes a little bit until he gets back.

Having experienced about every step along the way – from being waived to playing in the G-League to an NBA rotational guy – can you show the young guys that it eventually pays off?

Merrill: Yeah, for sure, with all these young guys. I try to tell them: You just need to trust in your work and be patient.

It’s hard, it’s tough. Like Tyrese (Proctor), for example. This is probably the first time of ever not really playing. He's played well when he's got the chances. But that can be tough, even if you're on a good team.

These guys that are playing the G-League, or maybe not playing, I've been through all that. I have an idea of what I felt worked for me, and so I’m definitely trying to share those things.

You’ve almost exclusively come off the bench through the first four years of your career, but you’ve started 12 of 19 games this year. Do you have a preference, and what’s been the difference?

Merrill: I don't think it matters too much.

Even if I don’t start, I check in pretty quick, the way our rotations work. We make substitutions pretty quick, more quickly than some other teams. You're not there at the tip-off or the first couple of minutes, but you get in there pretty quickly and the minutes for the most part don't change. So, there’s not really much of a difference to me.

Like, it's fun to be out there at tip-off and, you know, see the crowd and have your name announced. But at the end of the day, I’m just trying to play well whenever my minutes are. That's all I’m trying to do.

Kenny Atkinson also points to the team’s record with and without you in the lineup. How much do you think the record has coincided with your health this season?

Merrill: I think the fact that we're playing a little better now is somewhat coincidental. I think we’re close to finally trending up.

I thought that the (Dec. 19) Chicago game, the game before I came back. Like, we couldn't get a stop, but I thought Chicago played really well, and we offensively had our best game in a long time. And I thought, defensively, there was a lot of good stuff. It just didn't go our way that night. And then, obviously against Charlotte and New Orleans, we played better and got on a little roll.

So, like, it’s somewhat coincidental, but I do understand what I bring for us, and I've tried to kind of accentuate that since I've come back. You know, it's moving the ball, cutting, moving without the ball. And then defensively, communicating and doing all the stuff I do on that end as well.

Now 30-some games into the season, what’s worked and what does the squad need to work on to finally catch a rhythm here in January?

Merrill: We're definitely playing better. Sometimes it's just – and you know, you don't really even wanna say this – but sometimes it's just a matter of making shots. We've just shot the ball a little better.

But I do think – and it's hard to explain because we have a bunch of great dudes here that are competitive and want to win – that sometimes you just get in a funk – and it's hard to get out of. And I think that's what happened.

It’s not like it's not like we weren't having the right conversations, and it's not that guys don't care or any of that. It's just hard to get out of it. And I think we finally found a couple games where things we've been trying to do better have started to work and pay off, and that's good.

And that's why I think we're playing better right now.

But as everyone knows, these things can flip really quickly, Like, you can easily win 10 in a row, or you could easily lose eight out of 10. So, you really just have to take things day by day in this league.

You try and go in tonight, try and play good basketball. Don't worry about what's coming up or what's behind you. It’s not gonna be easy. Just try to do the best you can.