Jaylon Tyson says he’s in ‘the in-between bucket’ as Donovan Mitchell starts giving him the ball

Jaylon Tyson is not sure what to call himself anymore. He is not a rookie, he is not quite a veteran, and in his third season with the Cleveland Cavaliers he says the ball is finally coming his way more often.

“I’m in the in-between bucket right now,” Tyson said Monday night on The Association, sitting down with Lauren Rosen and her co-host two days before Cleveland’s first game. “The young guys look up to me, but I’m also still in year three, so I’m still trying to maneuver my way through that right now. Definitely not rookie. I’ll take that.”

The summer that changed his shot

The biggest jump in Tyson’s game has been his jumper. As a rookie in 2024-25 he made 34.5 percent of his threes in 47 games, mostly in short minutes. Last season he shot 44.6 percent from deep on 298 attempts, which the hosts noted ranked fourth in the league, while averaging 13.2 points and 5.1 rebounds and starting a career-high 42 games.

Tyson said that was no accident. “Being a knockdown shooter in this league, that’s everything,” he said. “Being able to space the floor for our other players is something that I definitely went into the summer after my first year kind of toning in on. And the work showed.” He added that he is “trying to take another leap this year with the shooting ability.”

His best night came in Philadelphia on Jan. 16, the second of two straight games there, when he scored a career-high 39 points on 13-of-17 shooting, including 7 of 9 from three, in a 117-115 win. Cleveland goes back to the same building to open this season, at the 76ers on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, which is 2 a.m. Friday in Cairo.

“Defense is what’s gonna get you on the court”

For all the shooting talk, Tyson kept steering the conversation back to defense. “As a young guy trying to get on the court, defense is what’s gonna get you on the court,” he said. “Obviously, making shots helps, but defense is what’s gonna get you on the court, and being somebody they can rely on to stop the best players, or at least try to hold them to their averages.”

He said he looks forward to those assignments. “When I see those matchups, that’s when I love to do that,” Tyson said. “I love to go at the best of the best and try to make their job as hard as possible.” Asked what turns a good perimeter defender into a great one, he listed physicality, mentality and “your defense IQ,” plus “all the little things that you learn throughout the game.”

Mitchell’s trust, and the ball in his hands

The hosts passed along praise from Donovan Mitchell, who said Tyson had a strong training camp and has grown on the floor and in maturity over the last year. “It means the world,” Tyson said. “Ever since I got here, Donovan’s been kind of like a mentor.”

He also explained how his role is shifting. “The difference between last year and this year, he’s giving me the ball now, so I’m starting to come up off screens,” Tyson said. “I’m starting to really get to do some stuff offensively.”

That matters because minutes on the wing will be competitive. Cleveland added Peyton Watson this summer, and Sam Merrill is still in the mix. Tyson started the preseason opener against Boston with James Harden out and scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, then came off the bench in the next two games. He finished the exhibition slate with 39 points on 15-of-25 shooting, 5 of 10 from three.

Tyson called Harden, Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen “another core four,” and said the role players’ job is to make their lives easier. “The biggest thing we’ve been harping on all training camp is, let’s try to take it to another step on the defensive end,” he said. “I think we’re going to have a pretty special team if we can do that.”

No anger after the Knicks

Cleveland’s season ended against the Knicks, who went on to win the title. Tyson said the group is not carrying that into this year as anger. “We wanted to go farther than we did,” he said. “But we’re not going into this year angry. I think we’re looking at it as, hey, look, we made it here before, we can make it here and try to go farther, learn from last year.”

He also had fun with the lighter questions. He said the team’s camp in Marbella, Spain, was worth the “super long flight,” and that he is “still a little disappointed” in a rookie who lost a push-up contest. On head coach Kenny Atkinson, who keeps challenging him to flex-offs, Tyson said he picked up a Spanish word on the trip that he now uses for small. “Every time I see him, that’s what he is, very, very small,” he joked, before calling Atkinson “a great dude” he is “super glad to have” as his coach.

And he took a moment for his younger brother, Jordyn, a wide receiver the New Orleans Saints drafted eighth overall out of Arizona State in April. Tyson said he was always bigger and harder on him growing up, but that Jordyn was always quicker. “I just want him to get healthy and have a good rookie year,” he said, “and then go out and just show the world why he got drafted where he got drafted.”