The most underrated player in the NBA? Ty Jerome makes a strong case in Memphis

Go ahead and build out your top-10 players in the league. You could start with scoring champs like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. Perhaps dominant bigs suit your fancy like Nikola Jokić, Victor Wembanyama and Joel Embiid. Maybe go with chess grandmasters like LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo. That’s even before we get to ruthless bucket-getters like Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey and Jayson Tatum.

That’s 12. You can bet a host of other All-Stars would like a word, too.

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But a name that you probably didn’t submit is one that many advanced metrics loudly claim absolutely belongs in that top-10 conversation:

Ty Jerome.

Ahead of the season — before the NBA announced Jerome as the Western Conference Player of the Week — Estimated Plus-Minus pegged the 29-year-old as the ninth-best offensive player in the league. DARKO was bullish too, ranking him 14th, ahead of future Hall of Famers like Durant and Antetokounmpo. This, despite Jerome not even ranking in the Top 100 lists for ESPN, The Ringer and CBS Sports. Surely, the calculators were glitching, right?

The Western Conference Player of the Week, Ty Jerome is averaging 29.8 points, 6.3 assists and just 1.8 turnovers for the 4-0 Grizzlies. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

(Ezra Shaw via Getty Images)

And then the season started. In Memphis’ dominant opening night win over the Utah Jazz, Jerome scored 45 points, the most the franchise had ever seen in a season opener — a performance so captivating that he generated M-V-P chants from the FedEx Forum faithful. 

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Meet the most underrated player in the NBA who is leading the 4-0 Grizzlies and simultaneously pressure-testing the predictive value of all-in-one metrics.

Jerome’s hot start

Jerome doesn’t look like your typical 30-point scorer. He can’t dunk. At least he has never dunked in an NBA game. Or, it seems, at college. There was once a Reddit forum from his time with the Virginia Cavaliers that asked, “Have you ever seen Ty Jerome dunk?” It turned up … nothing. 

His ground-bound 6-foot-5 frame hardly looks carved out of marble. He’s not winning…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/the-most-underrated-player-in-the-nba-ty-jerome-makes-a-strong-case-in-memphis-142245068.html

Author : Tom Haberstroh

Publish date : 2026-10-28 14:22:00

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