Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland is set to be sidelined for four to five months after he underwent surgery on his left big toe, and that injury could reportedly result in him missing some time to start the 2025-26 regular season.
According to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, one anonymous league source believes it’s possible that Garland could sit out 10 games to begin next season.
“Darius could miss 10 (regular-season) games,” the league source explained.
This is far from Garland’s first rodeo dealing with the injury bug in his NBA career, as he’s appeared in 70-plus games in just one of his six seasons in the best basketball league in the world.
Also, in late 2023, Garland suffered a broken jaw after he banged into Boston Celtics star big man Kristaps Porzingis and missed a significant amount of time with that injury.
Cavaliers fans shouldn’t rule out the possibility that the team will get off to a somewhat slow start to next season in light of the injury news related to Garland, as his impact on the offensive end when at full strength cannot be understated.
Garland is a gifted player on that side of the ball. He can score the ball from all three levels and is also one of the better playmakers in the NBA today, as he’s averaged 6.7 assists per game for his career.
His scoring and passing chops were on full display for much of the 2024-25 regular season, as he averaged 20.6 points and a team-high 6.7 assists per game across 75 games played. Garland’s impressive stats in those areas of the game helped him earn his second All-Star nod as an NBA player earlier this year.
It should be interesting to find out what Cleveland’s opening lineup will look like to begin next season if Garland is unable to play. It’s worth noting that when Garland missed an extended period of time with his jaw injury, star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell became the team’s temporary floor general.
According to Basketball Reference, Mitchell played 58 percent of his minutes in the 2023-24 season at the point guard position.
Mitchell has the playmaking skills necessary to step in and be a solid floor general until Garland is healthy again. He’s not the facilitator Garland is, but he’s averaged as many as 6.1 assists per game in an NBA season.