Sam Merrill Profile

Game by game

Seismograph

DARKO updates every rating after every game. The lines show the rating going into each game; the bars show how much each game moved it, split into offense and defense.

Season change: +0.17; +0.09 before the first game, +0.26 before the last game
Biggest boost: +0.55; Oct 24 vs BKN · 26 min
Biggest drop: -0.51; Nov 10 vs MIA · 33 min
Typical change per game: 0.10; Last 20 games, vs 0.14 in the first 20. Smaller changes mean each game moves DARKO's view less.

Historical comps

Comps & futures

The ten most similar player-seasons since 1996-97 at the same age, and what happened to them next.

+0.3 at age 30 in 2025-26 ranks 267th of 697 age-30 seasons since 1996-97. Closest match: Wayne Ellington, 2017-18.

Comp	Age	DPM then	Next 5 seasons	Match
Wayne Ellington 2017-18	30	+0.2	+0.1, -0.5, -0.8, -0.5, under 10 games	91
Anthony Morrow 2014-15	29	+0.3	-0.9, -0.8, under 10 games, under 10 games, under 10 games	90
Joe Harris 2020-21	29	0.0	-0.3, -0.5, -1.8, under 10 games, under 10 games	88
Jodie Meeks 2016-17	29	0.0	-1.4, under 10 games, under 10 games, under 10 games, under 10 games	87
Wesley Matthews 2015-16	29	+0.1	-0.4, -1.3, -1.1, -0.3, -0.7	87
Terrence Ross 2019-20	29	0.0	-1.5, -3.5, -2.4, under 10 games, under 10 games	87
Carlos Delfino 2012-13	30	+0.3	under 10 games, under 10 games, under 10 games, under 10 games, under 10 games	86
Reggie Jackson 2019-20	30	+0.3	+1.0, -0.3, -2.5, -3.3, -3.4	85
James Jones 2010-11	30	+0.1	-1.0, -1.8, -0.4, -2.3, -3.0	85
Will Barton 2020-21	30	-0.1	0.0, -2.1, under 10 games, under 10 games, under 10 games	85

The 25 player-seasons since 1996-97 closest to Sam's 2025-26 at the same age: DPM and its offense/defense split, the two seasons before, box-score profile, height, experience and age. Each comp counts once, at his closest season, weighted by the match. Hover or focus a comp to trace his next five seasons. A website presentation, not a DARKO model output.

Historical comps

Echoes today

Current players whose ten closest comps include one of Sam Merrill's seasons, at the same age.

John Tonje BOS like his 2020-21 92
Curtis Jones DEN like his 2020-21 91
Emanuel Miller SAS like his 2020-21 90
Jamison Battle TOR like his 2020-21 89

Match score out of 100: how close the current player's season is to that one.

Value

Contract & longevity

DARKO's fair salary from projected wins against Sam Merrill's salary, and the odds of still being on an NBA roster in each coming season.

Fair value: $14.4M; DARKO's market estimate
Salary: $8.5M; Actual
Surplus: +$5.9M; Value minus salary
Seasons left: 1.9; Projected
Retires at: 32.1; Projected age

Career

Season by season

DPM going into each season's last game, since 1996-97.

Sam Merrill, season by season
Season	Team	Age	Games	MPG	DPM	Off	Def	For his age
2025-26	CLE	30	52 +17	26.5	+0.26	+1.07	-0.80	267th of 697
2024-25	CLE	28	71 +8	19.7	+0.13	0.00	+0.14	348th of 858
2023-24	CLE	28	61 +10	17.5	-1.43	-0.68	-0.75	644th of 858
2022-23	CLE	26	5	11.7	-0.92	-0.51	-0.40	—
2021-22	MEM	25	6	9.6	-1.50	-0.73	-0.77	—
2020-21	MIL	25	30 +8	7.7	-2.15	-1.48	-0.67	916th of 1078

Games are regular season; +n are playoff games. "For his age" ranks the season's DPM among every season at the same age since 1996-97 with 20 or more games. A season's DPM opens the leaderboard on its last game day.

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Projections

Projected box score

DARKO's per-100 projections, and per game at 8.6 projected minutes and a pace of 94.4.

Sam Merrill, projected box score
Stat	Per 100	Per game
Points	19.0	3.2
Rebounds	4.8	0.8
Offensive	1.1	0.2
Defensive	3.8	0.6
Assists	2.8	0.5
Steals	1.4	0.2
Blocks	0.3	0.0
Turnovers	1.5	0.2
3-pt attempts	12.2	2.1
FG attempts	15.5	2.6
FT attempts	2.8	0.5
FG% · 3P% · FT%	40.5% · 37.6% · 82.1%