Sam Merrill
Merrill is a bench shooting guard on a Cleveland team that wants a 10-man rotation. The wire report that he went through a full practice points toward a return from the right elbow soreness, but I found nothing confirming his games played this season.
Role
Cavaliers Nation (Oct. 19) called him likely one of seven players in the established rotation, with James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Jaylon Tyson. A Yahoo/SI Cavs preview (about 23 days old) pictured Merrill and Tyson as the two big bench contributors. Atkinson has said 10 players is the goal and has used 11. I found no current minutes or usage figures and no confirmed starting five. Who starts at guard next to Harden and Mitchell is not settled in anything I read. Craig Porter Jr. was the first backup guard to enter in the Oct. 13 preseason finale while Merrill was out. That is one preseason game, so it is thin evidence for who competes for his minutes.
Atkinson trusted him with the largest workload of his career last season, per a Yahoo season review. The Cavs went 37-15 when he played, and he gave them off-ball movement, screening and secondary playmaking. An SI piece argued Cleveland should lean on his cutting even more in 2026-27, and he was third on the team in efficiency as a cutter. The previews slot him as a core bench piece who spaces the floor around Harden and Mitchell.
The elbow is the concern: he missed the Oct. 13 preseason finale and was limited in practice on Oct. 19. No return timetable was published at that point. The rotation is crowded, with Harden, Mitchell, Watson, Tyson and Mobley all in the mix. Atkinson also has other guards to try, including Porter and Tyrese Proctor. He is a shooting specialist playing on a team with several high-usage stars, so his scoring role depends on someone else's playmaking. The Yahoo review also noted he played through a left wrist injury late last season.
Where analysts split
Broad agreement that he is in the rotation. The open questions are health and how his minutes are shaped: whether he is a steady bench wing or loses time to Tyson, Watson or the backup guards. Previews have not settled the final 10-man group, and I found no writer arguing that he is out of it.
Research confidence: thin. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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