By Jeff Hunter ’96

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To the average NBA fan, it could be considered a relatively meaningless game late in the regular season. After all, the Utah Jazz are “playing out the string” at the end of a brutal season that will conclude with 11 losses in their last dozen games, while the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers are all but locked into the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference with eight games left before the playoffs.

But the smile on the face of Cavaliers’ guard Sam Merrill an hour before tipoff reveals just how much this game at the end of March matters to the former Aggie guard.

“Fifteen-ish,” Merrill replies when asked how many minutes it takes to get to the Delta Center from his childhood home in Bountiful.

“One of the first things I look for when the schedule comes out is when do we come back to Utah?” he continues. “There’s a lot of people that want to come, obviously. I get tickets and postgame passes for some friends and family. And it’s just nice walking back from the arena after shootaround and being home in Salt Lake City.

“And then being able to have dinner at my parents’ house last night was really nice, especially during the grind of a season.”

But while a return to his native state is always welcome, this visit to Utah clearly means even more. He and his wife, Kanyan, welcomed their first son into their family just over a month ago, bringing his family total to five — the same number on his Cavaliers’ jersey.

“I flew out a day early because we had a couple of days off, so I was able to be with my wife and kids,” notes Merrill, who was selected with the final pick of the second round in the 2020 NBA Draft. “We’ve been traveling a lot, so she came home to get some help. We’ve got a newborn, and then our second daughter just turned 1, so they’re not even a year apart.

“But we’ve had a lot of family help out, which we definitely need right now.”

Now a father of three, the master of the 3 takes a few moments to re-connect with his family before starting his usual pre-game routine, motioning to an usher to allow Kanyan, a former USU soccer player, and his children to come out of the stands for a few extra hugs. Merrill’s tender interactions with his two toddler girls are heartwarming, particularly when you consider that in less than an hour, he’ll be out on the court, engaged in numerous intensely physical clashes with mammoth, 6-foot-10, 240-pound athletes.

But it’s soon time to head back to the locker room and lock in on the game, leading to Merrill sharing one final kiss with Kanyan before retreating to the inner corridors of the Delta Center. But sitting in a desk chair in front of a nearby cubicle is another familiar face: Donovan Mitchell.

Utah’s marquee player from the time he was drafted until he was traded to Cleveland in 2022, the seven-time NBA All-Star quickly takes note of the Utah State University connection that’s just entered his locker room. While he attempts a friendly hand gesture, Mitchell instead flashes the “U” employed by Utes’ fans.

“No, that’s the U,” Merrill corrects with a laugh before displaying the proper “bull’s horn” hand sign. “They’re doing this now.”

Prior to Merrill’s arrival in Cleveland in March 2023, Mitchell’s experience with USU included a visit to the Aggies’ home football game against Air Force on Sept. 22, 2018. The most popular basketball player in the Beehive State at the time, Mitchell and Jazz teammates Royce O’Neale and Georges Niang enjoyed the game from the sideline while wearing custom-made USU football jerseys and posing for dozens of selfies with Aggie fans, including then-Lieutenant Gov. Spencer Cox and his wife, Abby.

But during his trip to Cache Valley, Mitchell also played a little pickup basketball with Merrill and the other Aggies, setting the stage for what has become a highly valued friendship.

“He’s one of my closest guys on the team,” Mitchell says.

“Donovan’s one of my favorite teammates ever,” seconds Merrill, who was in the stands when Mitchell played his first game with the Jazz on Oct. 18, 2017. “We’ve had a great relationship ever since the day I walked in. I know he’s someone I can talk to, and we talk a ton about how we’re trying to get better. And that’s what you want in a star is someone that’s always trying to get better and trying to get to the next level.”

Kenny Atkinson, who is in his second season as the head coach of the Cavaliers, says he wasn’t in Cleveland for very long before he recognized the strong bond between Merrill and Mitchell.

“Respect,” Atkinson declares when asked to describe the connection between his two guards. “Respect for each other is our work, and your dedication to the holistic approach to the game, and not just the on-court stuff. Sam’s always trying to beat me in the facility. They’re in that bucket, so it becomes a matter of respect. And, of course, they’re tied together through a lot of continuity, having been through it.

“They’re basketball geeks,” Atkinson adds, pointing out Merrill and Mitchell’s propensity to watch game film while on the team plane. “They love it. They’re desperate for improvement. Tactical, physical — they’re looking for any edge. There’s not a lot of guys in that bucket with that type of dedication to improvement.”

Merrill certainly hopes to display some of that improvement against the Jazz.

Although he’s second on Utah State’s all-time career scoring list, the former Aggie hasn’t fared so well during his NBA career when playing in the state of Utah.

“My first time playing here, I was so nervous,” says Merrill, who did knock down eight 3-pointers and put up a then-career-high 27 points in a win over the Jazz in Cleveland in 2023. “It’s not quite like that anymore. It’s fun just to be home, you know?”          

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Some asterisks are downright painful.

And in the case of the one attached to the 2019–20 Utah State basketball team — USU earned the Mountain West’s automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Tournament before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Aggie fans will always be haunted by the thought of, “What if?”

That team, coached by Craig Smith, boasted not only Merrill, who won an NBA title in 2021 as part of the Milwaukee Bucks’ organization, but also Neemias Queta. The 7-footer from Portugal, and Utah State’s all-time leading shot blocker, also earned a championship ring as part of the Boston Celtics in 2024.

“It’s always going to feel like a punch to the stomach, but we’ve had to learn to deal with it,” Queta says of the 2020 NCAA Tournament being canceled just a few days after USU won the Mountain West tournament with a dramatic win over San Diego State. “That’s life. You can’t control everything. We had a great chance to go at it, but we ended on a win. Like the best win we probably could have imagined.”

But after being denied an opportunity to participate in “The Big Dance” because of the rise of the coronavirus after going 26–8 and winning the conference tournament, Merrill and Queta were both drafted by organizations they no longer play for, worked their way up to the NBA via two-way contracts, and earned starting roles this season with the Cavaliers and Celtics, respectively.

Prior to Merrill, who was drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans, the last Aggie to be selected in the NBA Draft was Greg Grant, a sixth-round pick of the Detroit Pistons in 1986. Former USU forward Desmond Penigar, who saw action in 10 games with Orlando in 2003–04, was the last Aggie to play in the NBA before Merrill was added to Milwaukee’s roster late in his rookie season.

“We definitely hoped that was going to be the case,” Merrill says of both he and Queta making it to the highest level of professional basketball. “It’s pretty cool. It’s been a while since Utah State’s had that type of history in the NBA, and for there to be two of us now trying to do our thing is really exciting.”

Queta and Merrill started against each other on March 8, with Queta (four points, 11 rebounds) and the Celtics getting the best of Merrill (five points, five rebounds, four assists) and the Cavs, 109–98, in Cleveland. And after Boston (56–26) finished second in the Eastern Conference and the Cavaliers (52–30) took fourth, it seemed like a strong possibility the Aggie duo might meet up in the NBA Playoffs before the Sixers knocked the Celtics out in the first round despite 17 points and 12 rebounds from Queta in Game 7.

But like most people attached to Aggie basketball, Queta says he’ll never forget being on the court for one of the biggest shots in team history — Merrill’s game-winner in the championship game of the 2020 Mountain West tournament. The score was tied at 56 when Merrill buried a deep 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left to help the Aggies shock the Aztecs, 59–56, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The loss was just the second of the season for San Diego State which finished 30–2 and ranked No. 6 in the final AP poll.

“That’s obviously such an unforgettable moment in our careers,” Queta proclaims. “It’s such an iconic shot, and it’s always going to be engraved in the memory of Utah State fans. You need a lot of courage to make a shot like that.”

At the start of that offensive possession, Smith decided against calling a timeout, instead sending all of Merrill’s teammates down on the baseline to give his senior guard room to operate. Merrill, who already had 24 points in the game, had the ball well beyond the top of the key when he pulled up and delivered the dagger, just over the outstretched right arm of SDSU guard KJ Feagin.

In true Merrill fashion, the former Bountiful High standout angrily pleaded for a foul call while the USU bench and every Aggie fan in the building went berserk during the subsequent timeout. Utah State still had to sweat out a final half-court shot by Malachi Flynn before being able to celebrate the victory, but the Aggies, understandably, assumed they had just clinched their second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

“I’ve only heard someone bring it up about 15 times in the last hour, so that’s not too bad,” Merrill said with a chuckle when asked about his tournament-winning shot at the “Night with the Pros” event hosted by the USU basketball program last September in Logan.

“Obviously, we would have loved to have gone to the tournament, but we couldn’t control that. So, it was a great way to end it.”

FROM FAN TO FAN FAVORITE

It’s really not hyperbole to state that Sam Merrill was born to be an Aggie.

His grandfather Reed Merrill is a lifelong USU supporter from Cache Valley, and his parents, John and Jenny Merrill, are both Utah State graduates. In addition, Sam’s older sister, Molli, was a goalkeeper for the Aggies from 2007 to ’11, and she also served as a matchmaker, introducing Sam to Kanyan while she was serving as an assistant coach for the USU soccer team.

A four-sport athlete (basketball, football, baseball, and golf) at Bountiful High School, Merrill grew up idolizing USU’s all-time leading scorer, Jaycee Carroll, and was at the Spectrum the night Carroll surpassed Greg Grant’s previous school record on Jan. 19, 2008. So, when the Aggies offered him a basketball scholarship early in his prep career, it wasn’t a hard decision.

“I remember seeing him play and saying to my assistants, ‘You know, he’s got a lot of (former USU guard) Tony Brown in him.’ And they were like, ‘You think he could be that good coach?’” former Utah State head coach Stew Morrill recalls. “Comparing him to Tony was a real compliment.”

Merrill put together a monster junior season in 2012–13, averaging 18.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game. He also put up 35 points in a 63–60 state semifinal overtime loss to fellow future Aggie Jalen Moore and the Sky View Bobcats when Moore connected on a near-half-court shot at the buzzer.

As a senior, Merrill averaged 15.8 points, 7.4 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals per contest on his way to being named 4A MVP. He then left to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nicaragua. Morrill retired at the end of the 2014–15 season, but he was replaced by longtime assistant coach, Tim Duryea.

“Sam was good, but we really recruited him because we knew what kind of a kid he was,” Morrill says. “He’s a quality guy, and we had so many kids with similar backgrounds that were great for us during those years. And you know, when I got my name on the court at the Spectrum (in 2024), Sam left a message on my voicemail. He never even played for me, so I thought that was really nice of him to do that.

“Every indication is that he’s an unbelievable competitor, but a gentleman that Utah State can be awfully proud of.”

Following a challenging two years in Central America — “I felt like I was tough, like I was a tough player and a tough person in high school, but that toughened me up even more,” he said in 2017 — Merrill quickly established himself as big part of Utah State’s future, starting the Aggies’ final 18 games of the 2016–17 season while shooting 45% from 3-point range and averaging 9.4 points per night.

Merrill led Utah State in scoring (16.3 ppg) as a sophomore, and he elected to stay in Logan after Duryea was let go at end of the 2017–18 season. That gave new coach, Craig Smith, a foundation to build around, and Merrill ended up dominating the conference in 2018–19, earning Mountain West Player of the Year honors after averaging 20.9 points per game.

Utah State lost to Washington in the NCAA Tournament at the end of a 28–6 campaign, but that left Merrill and the Aggies hungry for more. And despite dealing with a couple of bad ankles the entire season, USU’s senior guard still started all 32 games and played an average of 35 minutes a night while scoring 19.7 points per game and completing a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Merrill’s gritty play and prolific scoring his final two seasons elevated him past Wayne Estes (2,001 points) and Grant (2,127 points) on USU’s career scoring list. Only Carroll, who totaled 2,522 points from 2004–08, stands above him in scoring and 3-points shots made. Carroll buried 369 treys in his career, while Merrill knocked down 319 on 42% shooting.

Six years later, the man nicknamed “Money” is still burying perimeter shots with the best of them.

Merrill, who is shooting 39.7% from 3-point range for his NBA career, has also found a home in Cleveland, after bouncing around Milwaukee, Memphis, and Sacramento — and their G League affiliates — his first few seasons as a pro. He averaged 8.0 points and 17.5 minutes for the Cavs in 2023–24 under former head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, then notched 7.2 points and 19.7 minutes in Kenny Atkinson’s first season at the helm.

During the regular season in 2025–26, Merrill made 38 starts but was limited to just 52 games while dealing with a hand injury the first half of the year. Regarded as one of Cleveland’s best defenders the past couple of years, Merrill also set new career-highs in scoring (12.8 ppg), field goal percentage (46.1%), 3-point field goals made (158) and minutes played (26.5 mpg).

“I have a lot of gratitude for this organization and the faith that they and the coaching staff have put in me,” Merrill says. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to do something special here. And there’s been some ups and downs this year, and a ton of injuries, which stinks. But, you know, we feel like we’re playing some good basketball right now as we head towards the playoffs, and that’s when you need to be playing your best.”

For Merrill, his “best” emerged in spectacular fashion on the night of Feb. 11, when he put up a career-best 32 points in a rout of the Wizards. In James Harden’s first home game since being traded to Cleveland, it was Merrill who had Rocket Arena buzzing, going 9-for-9 — including 7-for-7 from 3-point range — on his way to putting up 26 points in the first half alone.

“That was a good night,” says Merrill, who signed a four-year, $38 million contract extension last summer. “It was just one of those games where you come out, make your first couple of shots, and you kind of know you feel good. But it’s been a good year overall, aside from the fluke hand thing, which sucked. But I feel really confident in what I’ve been able to do this year.”

Mitchell, who has pushed for Merrill to be included in the NBA’s 3-Point Contest during All-Star Weekend the past few years, says he’s been thrilled to see his friend and teammate’s confidence grow during his time in “The Land.”

“He didn’t play that much the first year with us, and to see him build from that, to having the role he has, to signing a well-deserved extension — a lot of that is his own work,” Mitchell says. “For me, it was continuing to instill in him that, ‘Hey, we believe you. We believe in you, and we want you to be here. And we want you to continue to be great.’ And he’s done it himself to get to this point.”

EXPANDING HIS GAME

While it’s not a home game for Sam Merrill, it obviously feels like coming home when he plays in Salt Lake City. But whether he’s playing at the Delta Center, Rocket Arena or battling LeBron James and the Lakers in Los Angeles, he tries to take a moment to recognize that he’s playing in the NBA against the best of the best.

“I definitely try not to take all of this for granted, going into every game,” says Merrill, who turned 30 in May. “The season’s hard, man, like the physical grind. And then having to mentally prepare yourself for every single game can turn into a bit of a drag.

“But I try to always remind myself before every game, ‘Don’t take this for granted.’ I’m hoping to play for a long time, but you never really know. This is something I’ve dreamed about my whole life, so don’t waste away a day just because you’re tired or whatever. It’s been such a blessing.”

While things didn’t go so well for Merrill offensively against the Jazz on March 30, the Cavaliers did come away with a 122–113 victory. Merrill played 28 minutes against his former favorite team, but he went just 4-for-14 from the field, including a very uncharacteristic 0-for-8 performance from 3-point range.

But the fans at the Delta Center treated Merrill (as well as Mitchell, who finished with 34 points), a little bit differently when they did something noteworthy. And there were certainly more Aggie hats and wine-and-gold shirts seen in the stands than usual — especially after the game when Merrill made his way into the stands to give and receive hugs and handshakes with three or four dozen friends and relatives.

And despite Merrill’s struggles from the perimeter, Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson insists he actually liked what he saw from his 6-foot-4 guard, most notably late in the game when the score was tied at 100 and he drove into the lane and connected on a short jumper while being fouled that resulted in a three-point play. And a few minutes later, Merrill followed that up by getting into the paint again, but this time he stopped and lobbed up a perfect alley-oop pass to teammate Evan Mobley for a big dunk when the Jazz were getting close again.

“I think Sam’s expanded his game; I think he was 3-for-5 in the paint,” Atkinson notes. “I don’t think he’s ever touched the paint like the previous … well, like everything was on the 3-point line. He’s become a much more complete player. Cutting a lot more, driving the ball, making plays even out of a DHO (dribble handoff), or pick and roll.

“And then defensively … listen, he’s one of our best perimeter defenders. I don’t know where to rank him, but I don’t think he gets quite the respect he should. But internally, we have no problem putting on the other team’s best wing player or point guard. No problem.”

For anyone who watched Merrill do all of those things on the basketball court during his four years at Utah State, it certainly comes as no surprise that “Money” has been saving — and refining — those skills for a rainy day in the NBA.