Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland said on Saturday that he feels “great” in the wake of June toe surgery, but that doesn’t mean the team is counting on having him available when training camp begins this fall. Reporting at the time of Garland’s surgery indicated he would likely miss the start of the season, and head coach Kenny Atkinson confirmed to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required) that he doesn’t expect Garland to be fully healthy when the club reconvenes this fall.
Apr 11, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson coaches against the New York Knicks during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
“That’s not a medical opinion. That’s just my sense of this,” Atkinson said during an appearance at Garland’s celebrity softball game in Eastlake. “Under-promise and over-deliver. We’re not going to rush or push this. If he is ready, then great. I will rely on (trainer) Steve (Spiro) and Darius to tell me. But I don’t expect that.”
Atkinson told Fedor that Garland has approached his rehab process “really well” and is focused on strength training until he’s able to run again. The Cavs’ head coach also expressed confidence in the point guard alternatives he’ll have on hand while his starter is on the shelf, even after Ty Jerome departed Cleveland for Memphis in free agency.
“We have Don (Donovan Mitchell). We have Lonzo (Ball). We have CP (Craig Porter Jr.),” Atkinson said. “We are kind of covered. We also have Evan (Mobley), where we can throw it to him in a trail position and have him be a play-maker.”
Pointing out that tinkering with his lineups will likely result in the Cavs learning some things about their players that they otherwise wouldn’t figure out, Atkinson suggested he’ll welcome the opportunity to problem-solve and find the silver lining in Garland’s early-season absence.
“I hate that this injury happened to Darius, but it allows you to start figuring out things for the times he is not available,” Atkinson said. “Last year in the playoffs it just hit us and maybe we weren’t as prepared as we could have been. If we have to play games without him, this will allow us to kind of experiment a little and see if we can find play-making in other places.”
The Cavaliers’ coach also acknowledged that managing playing time for Garland and other key players over the course of the season will be something the team seriously consider after the roster was hit hard by injuries in the 2025 postseason.
“I think that is the plan for the whole roster,” Atkinson said. “How do we become a more durable team? We are going into round two (of the playoffs) and we have 14 guys healthy, that’s the goal. We had a plan in place, but I think we have to do better when it comes to figuring that out. It’s a hard part of my job too.”
The Cavs are in a tough spot. They gave a great regular season team but when it comes to the playoffs they don’t seem to be on par with the elite squads. Last two seasons they’ve only been able to win one game in the second round before being eliminated. Yes, a lot of that had to do with injuries but it’s also roster construction. We have two small guards and Evan is best suited at the 5 leaving Allen as the odd man out. Now this greatly hurts the teams rebounding and they’re paying 30 mill for Allen to sit on the bench in crunch time. The issue with getting rid of Allen is that he’s worth more to the Cavs than he is to the league and then they’d also have to replace him because Evan is not strong enough to bang with the bigger stronger centers in the league. I hope Garland is able to put on more mass especially in his lower body so that he can become a + defender. I believe he’s underrated on that side of the ball but he’s still a liability in a switch heavy league.
I think having a bigger guard like Ball will price to be a valuable asset. It’ll give them irons against guys like Haliburtin who have more size and are a bit more physical. Ball is also a solid defender. He can hit some own 3s and run the offense too so that’s great.
I hope Ball can stay healthy. I agree that the Mitchell-Garland backcourt is too small.