At long last, Ty Jerome makes a splash in debut with OKC

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Former Virginia guard Ty Jerome has missed nearly half a season in his second year in the NBA, but the wait was worth the result.

Jerome made his debut with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night and opened a few eyes along the way. He scored nine points, added seven assists (tying his career high) and grabbed a career-high five rebounds in the Thunder’s win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Then tonight, Jerome, in 30 minutes off the bench, poured in 15 points, on 6-of-12 shooting, in a 126-96 loss to Denver.

“Just the way we play is an easy way to fit in,” Jerome told the Oklahoman newspaper. “The ball’s constantly moving, so if you’ve got a shot you shoot it, and everybody competes hard and we’ve got a great group of guys.”

Jerome, who helped Virginia to the national championship in 2019, played his rookie season with the Phoenix Suns and averaged 3.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists. He was traded to Oklahoma City in the offseason as part of the Chris Paul deal.

However, he was injured in the first practice session of Thunder camp this season and sat out a couple months with a high ankle sprain. When he recovered enough to play, Jerome was assigned to the Thunder’s G League bubble team in Orlando where he averaged 12.1 points, 3.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds in nine games for the OKC Blue.

The Thunder called him up Thursday after its other combo guard, Hamidou Diallo suffered a groin injury. Jerome didn’t waste any time in making a splash.

“Ty’s a basketball player,” guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “By that I mean you could stick him anywhere with any lineup, he’s gonna mesh well. He can shoot, pass, put it on the floor, do so many things that it’s easy for him to blend in and look good.”

Jerome came off the bench and clocked 22 minutes for Oklahoma City in his debut as a part of the Thunder.

“The best part about it is it wasn’t easy,” OKC Mark coach Daigneault said. “Most of the credit goes to Ty because he’s the one doing the work, but that’s the type of stuff that as a program we take a ton of pride in.”