When Ty Jerome had his draft rights traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2019, he joined a team that was finally approaching an upward trajectory. Ten days after that draft, Phoenix signed Ricky Rubio, a respected veteran who was expected to be a part of the team for the next two to three years and help mentor younger guards including Jerome.
Rubio and Jerome played in Phoenix for one season, and Jerome appeared in only 31 games as a rookie, but it’s clear the young guard took lessons from Rubio during their time together.
The two were traded to the Thunder together as part of the package for Chris Paul. Rubio was promptly shipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Oklahoma City and Minnesota faced off on Monday. After the game, Rubio gave Jerome his jersey and wrote a message on the back. The second-year Thunder guard posted a photo to his Instagram story:
On the number nine, Rubio wrote:
“To my rook Ty,
Best of luck on your long NBA career! Love you.”
This was coming off a performance in which Jerome showed off, going 5-for-5 from deep. The 15 points he scored matches the most he scored in a game for the Suns.
Jerome has been a different player this season. Playing an off-ball role, he has been a sniper from deep and looked more comfortable on the court as he focused on shooting the ball and moving the rock.
He has set a career-high of 18 points, has tripled his scoring average from 3.3 to 9.9 points per game, and has shot 45.6% from the field and 44.6% from deep, a world away from last year’s numbers of 33.6% from the field and 28.0% from 3.
Perhaps Rubio didn’t necessarily want to see his rook light up his new Timberwolves team, but he certainly isn’t upset it happened.
This post originally appeared on OKCThunderWire. Follow us on Facebook!
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