The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Darius Garland with the fifth overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Garland, then just a 19-year-old kid who had missed the bulk of his freshman season with a torn meniscus, was now joining a franchise only one year removed from reaching four consecutive NBA Finals.
But Cleveland was no longer a powerhouse. There was a LeBron-sized crater to fill.
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Remember Alfonzo McKinnie? What about Brodric Thomas or Damyean Dotson? Who could forget eight games from Thon Maker in 2020?
This isn’t meant to disrespect any of them, only to highlight that Garland became a Cavalier at a time when playing in Cleveland wasn’t exactly glamorous.
His rookie season was an advanced metric nightmare. Garland was dubbed the ‘worst player in the NBA’ as it turns out being a high-usage rookie on a lottery team is bad for your net rating. But as he developed and the roster around him began to take shape, Garland rapidly ascended—taking his teammates with him.
The 2021-22 season was one of the most fun campaigns in franchise history. If not for the fact that it came completely out of nowhere and was found money, but for the way that team, spearheaded by Garland, brought joy back to Cleveland basketball.
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Think of Garland at his best. The shifty handle, dazzling no-look passes, and three-point barrages that made everyone else around him better. Garland played with an infectious enthusiasm and held team success above his own accolades. A gifted scorer whose biggest on-court criticism was his lack of size or being too passive.
Many small-market teams struggle to find a building block like Garland. It’s hard to find a star, and it’s harder to find one that co-exists with other stars. Garland’s fit with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen was seamless. His eventual pairing with Donovan Mitchell was better than most people imagined. They had flaws defensively, but later transformed a middling offense into the third-best in league history.
It would be easy to dismiss the 64-win season as a failure, considering their shortcomings in the playoffs. It’d also be easy for a younger Cavs fan to take this for granted. After all, they’ve experienced multiple championship-contending cores this decade.
I’d urge you to remember that these seasons are the exception. Players like Garland don’t come often. Especially for small market teams.
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As it stands, Garland has the ninth most points in franchise history and ranks third in both three-pointers and career assists. That’s the type of talent that goes on to have their jersey retired in other eras.
But today’s NBA is different. Stars don’t spend their entire career in the same place anymore. And our attention spans are shorter than ever. People are more than willing to move on to the next best thing without considering what they already have.
Of course, keeping Garland would have been a risk, too.
We’ve seen a string of unfortunate injuries keep him from playing his best basketball at the most important moments. He has limitations as an undersized guard, and he’s a weak defender. Any chance he had of cementing himself in Cavalier history beyond the regular season was squandered either due to inexperience or his unavailability in the playoffs.
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All of this is true.
But this is a moment to remember the scrawny, wiry teenager who joined a franchise lost in the abyss and showed them the light. An elite floor general who raised his team’s ceiling and fought back early from every injury to at least go down swinging. Broken jaw or steel plate in his shoe, Garland was on the floor every time Cleveland faced elimination.
This is for all of the times Garland got hit in the face and didn’t draw a foul call (or worse, had the foul called on him). For the Cavalanches that often stemmed from his playmaking. The lobs he threw to Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and even Andre Drummond. And more importantly, all of the incredible things he brought to the community off the court.
Garland wasn’t a perfect player. He might not have been the solution to saving this season or securing another championship for the Cavs. But I very much enjoyed watching him mature into a star in Cleveland, and I’m wishing him the absolute best in Los Angeles.