While navigating the highs and lows of life in the NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard Sam Merrill has relied heavily on his faith.
Recently, Merrill was a guest on Jimmer Fredette’s “From the Logo with Jimmer Fredette” podcast.
During the episode, Fredette asked Merrill about the effect his faith as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had on his career.
While “there’s so many different ways that it has helped me,” Merrill said, he specifically mentioned the two-year mission he served for the church in Nicaragua.
He quoted President Jeffrey R. Holland, saying, “how your mission goes is how your life will go.” The hardships Merrill has experienced in the NBA are reflective of the hardships of his mission, he said.
“It’s been pretty spot on what he said. There are ups and downs on a mission, and I had to learn how to be resilient on my mission, and I had to learn in the NBA how to be resilient, being traded, being waived twice, having an ankle surgery, playing in the G League, like all that stuff. Even last year, being in a contract year, which is never easy, you have to learn how to be resilient,” Merrill said.
Beyond resiliency, Merrill’s faith has also helped him put his basketball career in perspective.
“One thing that I always try to remind myself — and this is something I try and do before every game — is just like, ‘What happens tonight really doesn’t matter.’ You know, no one’s gonna care in 20 years whether I went 6 for 10 from the 3 or 1 for 8 from the 3 in this game,” he said.
Instead, Merrill puts more weight on the person he is, rather than his performance on the court.
“What does matter is the kind of person that I am, and that’s what’s gonna carry over to my family and my friends and my loved ones and whatnot. And that’s all because what I believe in and what kind of person that I’m trying to be because of my faith,” he said.
Finding a ‘mini Provo, mini Utah State’ in the NBA
Early in his career, Merrill had the opportunity to experience something that Fredette said “doesn’t happen very often in the NBA.”
Merrill spent his rookie season with the Milwaukee Bucks. Near the end of the season, the Bucks signed former BYU basketball guard Elijah Bryant, a fellow Latter-day Saint.
Merrill said “it was really cool” to be NBA teammates with another member of the church. But the two players weren’t the only Latter-day Saints with the Bucks in what Fredette called a “mini Provo, mini Utah State.”
“It was really cool, and not only Elijah, who’s a great dude and a great person and has had a great career in the EuroLeague but also, Dr. (Craig) Manning, who’s our sports psychologist with the Bucks, and ‘Whiz,’ Michael Davie, who’s now the strength coach at BYU, was our strength coach there,” Merrill said.
The former Utah State Aggie added that having Davie while with the Bucks was a “big” help for him.
“Whiz was big for me. Like, he’s the guy I worked with that year and, you know, your first year in the league and all the ups and downs of it and he was big for me and just having someone that knows where you’re coming from and the experiences you’ve had,” Merrill said.
Sam Merrill on balancing faith, basketball and fatherhood
Merrill isn’t just a star for the Cavaliers, he’s also a dad.
He and his wife, Kanyan Merrill, have two young daughters and are expecting their third child, a son.
He expressed his gratitude that he has a wife and daughters to come home to after practices and games.
“Because I think it does make my life a little easier, where I can focus on basketball when I need to and the grind of that but then can come home and just be with my girls and not have to worry about that stuff,” he said. “I think that helps from a stress standpoint and whatnot and then just like I said, always trying to keep what’s most important at the forefront.”
While Merrill has high expectations for himself as a basketball player, those “most important“ things have nothing to do with what he does on the court.
“I want to be the best player I can be. I play on a championship-level team. I want to win a championship. I want to participate in that, and I’m going to work as hard as I can to do that. But I also know what’s really most important and that’s my family and my faith,” he said.
Merrill has been dealing with a hand injury and last played Nov. 17 in the Cavaliers’ 118-106 win over the Bucks, where Merrill put up 20 points (7-10 FG).
He’s averaging 13.92 points per game, the highest of his career.