Sam MerrillCleveland Cavaliers · #5
Sam Merrill is a sharpshooting guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers — the last pick of the 2020 NBA Draft who turned into a valuable floor-spacer. A Utah State legend who hit a famous buzzer-beater and won Mountain West Player of the Year, he carved out an NBA career on elite three-point shooting, hitting over 40% from deep as a key Cleveland bench weapon.
Sam Merrill — the report card
Read his whole game at a glance, then dive into any skill. Grades from the DNA model + real production.
Where Sam Merrill stands
Live ladders from the Balladex models, and what he's chasing. Rankings recompute nightly from real production, accolades, and search demand.
Sam Merrill — every number, three levels deep
Headline → metric → the raw history behind it. Real career data; tracking-only metrics labeled.
How the model sees Sam Merrill
Projection = per-minute rate × projected minutes. Rates are recency- and health-weighted, aged along a per-stat curve, and adjusted for live usage/role. No black box — every number shows its work.
Sam Merrill career stats, season by season
| Season | GP | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 30 | 7.8 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 | .444 | .447 |
| 2021-22 | 6 | 9.7 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 0.7 | .333 | .304 |
| 2022-23 | 5 | 11.8 | 5.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | .409 | .278 |
| 2023-24 | 61 | 17.5 | 8.0 | 2.0 | 1.8 | .402 | .404 |
| 2024-25 | 71 | 19.7 | 7.2 | 2.2 | 1.5 | .406 | .372 |
| 2025-26 | 52 | 26.5 | 12.8 | 2.6 | 2.4 | .461 | .421 |
| Career | 225 | 18.6 | 8.0 | 2.0 | 1.7 |
The Lab
Every number, live and interactive. Real career data; models labeled.
Are the Cleveland Cavaliers built to win?
Team projection rolled up from the roster + last-season baselines — and what it means for his role.
The Ballad of Sam Merrill
Birth to now — the making of a legend, narrated and scored.
The beginning
The last pick of his draft who became a knockdown shooter — Cleveland's bench sniper.
Turning pro
Drafted 60th overall, 2020 as a Guard.
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The very last pick of his draft — who shot his way into an NBA rotation.
Chapter
A Utah State legend, Merrill won Mountain West Player of the Year and hit a famous buzzer-beater before being drafted 60th — 'Mr. Irrelevant' — in 2020.
Chapter
He found a home in Cleveland as a floor-spacing specialist, shooting over 40% from three.
Off the court
- Height
- 6' 4"
- Weight
- 205 lbs
- College
- Utah State
- Experience
- 6th Season
- NBA debut
- 2020
- Draft
- 60th overall, 2020
- Born
- Bountiful, Utah
- Age
- 30
- Jersey
- #5
Merrill's story is a testament to a single elite skill: shooting. As the very last pick of the 2020 draft, he faced long odds, but a Utah State career defined by clutch shot-making — including one of the more memorable buzzer-beaters in recent Mountain West history — foreshadowed an NBA niche as a marksman.
His identity is spacing and shot-making. On a Cleveland team with two lead scorers and a veteran playmaker, Merrill's job is to relocate, catch, and fire — and he does it at a high enough clip to stay in the rotation, the classic modern value of a specialist who does one thing exceptionally well.
A pure catch-and-shoot marksman — the last-pick underdog who bends defenses.
Sam Merrill — frequently asked
The questions people ask most about Sam Merrill, answered.
