Research cutoff: July 18, 2026. Team: Cleveland Cavaliers.
2026-27 projection
| GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | 27.0 | .465 | .750 | 1.8 | 11.8 | 5.0 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
Tyson played 66 games at 26.9 minutes in 2025-26, averaging 13.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.0 threes, 0.8 steals, and 0.4 blocks on .493 FG and .738 FT. The model holds the role but regresses his unusually strong FG% and trims scoring in a healthier veteran rotation. 2025-26 Cavaliers statistics
Role and fantasy profile
- Role: first reserve wing and possible starter over Max Strus. The healthy model gives him 27 minutes across SF and PF. His rookie-scale option was exercised, so Cleveland controls the role.
- 9-cat: useful wing REB and 3PM with acceptable FG%; STL/BLK and FT% are not strong enough to create a clear category spike. Draft range: pick 125-175.
- Points leagues: deep-league target around pick 120-165; role volume matters more than his category balance.
- Dynasty: Hashtag Basketball ranked Tyson 165th in dynasty but only 507th in keeper, illustrating the gap between long-run opportunity and current redraft impact. He is a hold, especially if a veteran wing is traded. Hashtag dynasty rankings
Floor, base, ceiling
- Floor: 18-21 minutes and no 12-team value if Strus is healthy and Cleveland adds LeBron.
- Base: 27 minutes, 12/5/2 with nearly two threes; late-round/deep-league value.
- Ceiling: top 80-100 if he starts, reaches 31-plus minutes, and improves to roughly one steal and 0.6 blocks.
Uncertainty
Tyson's path is transaction-sensitive. Reports connected Strus to possible salary-clearing moves for LeBron, which would be strongly positive; a LeBron signing without a Tyson-clearing trade would be negative. Neither is a completed transaction. His high 2025-26 shooting baseline also warrants regression independent of role.
Career record
Pre-NBA: Three college seasons across three schools. Texas (2021-22): 8 games, 6.9 minutes, 1.8 points on .400 FG, redshirt-adjacent bench role before transferring. Texas Tech (2022-23): 31 games and 31 starts, 28.9 minutes, 10.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists on .483 FG / .402 3P / .723 FT in the Big 12. California (2023-24): 31 games, 34.3 minutes, 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.6 threes, 1.2 steals on .465 FG / .360 3P / .796 FT; first-team All-Pac-12. Draft: 2024, first round, 20th overall, Cleveland Cavaliers; not traded on draft night, signed July 3, 2024.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 21 | CLE | 47 | 9.6 | 3.6 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | .430 | .792 | 0.6 |
| 2025-26 | 22 | CLE | 66 | 26.9 | 13.2 | 5.1 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 2.0 | .493 | .738 | 1.5 |
| Career | CLE | 113 | 19.7 | 9.2 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.4 | .481 | .748 | 1.1 |
Fantasy history: 2024-25: unrostered in standard formats — 9.6 minutes and multiple Cleveland Charge assignments put him far outside the top 300. 2025-26: no season-end 9-cat rank from Basketball Monster, Hashtag, or the ESPN Player Rater was verifiable at time of writing, so no number is asserted here; the raw per-game line (13.2 / 5.1 / 2.2 / 2.0 3PM / 0.8 / 0.4, .493 FG, 1.5 TO) is a late-round profile carried by an efficiency spike rather than by counting-stat volume. Points-league shape is slightly better than the category shape: the assist and rebound floor plus low turnovers make him steadier per-minute than his thin defensive stats suggest in cats.
Durability: 2024-25: 47 GP — the absences were rotational and G League assignment, not injury. 2025-26: 66 GP — out from March 19, 2026 with a left great toe bone bruise, missing 10 games and returning in the penultimate regular-season game in early April; a left knee bone bruise cost at least one late-March date within the same stretch. The remaining handful of missed games are not individually verified. Two seasons, one soft-tissue/bone-bruise episode, no structural injury.
Trajectory: The 2025-26 jump is a minutes-and-role story first — 9.6 to 26.9 MPG is a 2.8x increase that alone explains most of the counting-stat move from 3.6 points to 13.2. What is not explained by minutes is the shooting: .430 to .493 FG and .345 to .446 from three in one year, which is the single most fragile number in his profile and the reason the projection above regresses it. A 44.6 percent three-point rate on real volume is roughly 10 points above his own college mark (.360 at Cal, .402 at Texas Tech), and three-point percentage is the least stable skill at this sample size. The genuinely encouraging signals are the ones minutes do not manufacture: rebounding held at a wing-plus rate and turnovers stayed at 1.5 despite a much larger on-ball load. At 22 entering 2026-27 he is pre-peak with room to add the steals and blocks he has never produced at any level, but the honest read is that his 2025-26 value was efficiency-inflated and his 2026-27 outcome hinges on whether the role survives a healthy veteran rotation rather than on further skill growth.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · Wikipedia — Jaylon Tyson · News 5 Cleveland — Tyson returns from toe injury · Hoops Rumors — Tyson, Wade out at least three more games
Open questions
- Does Tyson or Strus start opening night?
- Was .493 FG sustainable for his shot mix?
- Can he turn athletic tools into materially better steals and blocks?
Related: Cleveland Cavaliers · Max Strus · Meleek Thomas