The Cleveland Cavaliers endure yet another notable injury, as Sam Merrill joins a growing list after a painful hip pointer suffered during their victory over the Pistons.
The injury bug has made its presence felt inside the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room as the 2025-26 season is nearly a week old.
The team already started the season with Darius Garland, Max Strus and De'Andre Hunter sidelined, with the former two recovering from offseason surgeries respectively. Hunter has already returned to the lineup after dealing with a knee injury suffered in the Cavs final preseason game against the Bulls back on Oct. 14.
Now, sharpshooter Sam Merrill becomes the latest Cavaliers' player to be dealt some tough injury news. Following Tuesday's 116-95 win over the Detroit Pistons, head coach Kenny Atkinson revealed that Merrill was dealing with some substantial pain after banging his hip in the first half.
"He's hurting, he's hurting" Atkinson said after the game. "When Sam can't come back in the game, it's [bad]. Evan actually hit him, in the hip, somehow they – looks like a hip pointer. Those are painful, so, we'll see, but he's hurting right now."
Atkinson wouldn't speculate on whether or not Merrill would have to miss Wednesday's road matchup with the Boston Celtics, or any time beyond that. Merrill actually attempted to play through the ailment on Monday night, and even returned for the second half.
Ultimately, Atkinson and company chose to err on the side of caution and pulled Merrill for good with about 6:36 to go in the third quarter.
With Garland sidelined, Merrill is off to a tremendous start to the season as part of the Cavs starting lineup. He's averaged a career-high 28 minutes in Cleveland's first four games, and is shooting an eye-popping 51.5% from the floor and from three. In total, he's averaging over 19.3 points per game.
During the offseason, Merrill was poised to be a free agent and questions loomed over whether or not president of basketball operations Koby Altman would pay him or last season's sixth-man of the year candidate Ty Jerome, as the team approached the league's second salary cap apron.
Altman and company opted for retain Merrill, inking him to a four-year, $38 million deal in June. So far the decision has paid off beautifully. However, this injury update could serve as a minor hurdle to his hot start.