Cavaliers’ Garland has Toe Surgery

Tough break.

After taking the floor in a career-high 75 regular-season games, there is no guarantee that Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland will be available and ready to go for the start of the 2025-26 campaign.

Monday afternoon, the Cavaliers announced that the team’s starting point guard will be on the shelf for a substantial period, 4-5 months, after undergoing surgery on his left big toe. While the hope and expectation are that Garland will be good to go and recovered by the start of training camp, that does not exactly match up with the timeline given by the team.

Averaging at least a cool 20.6 points per game in three of the last four seasons, Garland earned his second All-Star Game nod and helped lead the Cavaliers to 64 wins and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. In addition to the 20.6 points, he averaged 2.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.8 three-pointers in 30.7 minutes of action.

In his first season playing under coach Kenny Atkinson, Garland’s efficiency flourished. At the same time, his playing time diminished ever so slightly, with the first-year head coach being willing to go deep and trust his bench throughout the regular season. Garland shot 47.2 percent from the field, 40.1 percent from 3-point range and 87.8 percent from the free throw line, while playing a relatively clean game, averaging only 2.5 turnovers per game, his lowest average since his rookie season (2019-20).

Unfortunately for Garland and the Cavaliers, a left great toe injury sidelined him for four games, including the first two games of the team’s second-round series against the Indiana Pacers. The Cavaliers would lose both of those contests, falling into a hole that proved too deep to crawl out of. And in the wake of their elimination in the semifinals, Garland and big man Jarrett Allen have been mentioned in some trade rumors.

On a potential connection with the Orlando Magic, who they defeated in last year’s playoffs in a seven-game, first round series, NBA insider Jake Fischer reported on Sunday, June 8 that there have been no “substantive conversations” between the two franchises regarding a deal involving Garland. One would think that concerns regarding Garland’s health would take any potential deals off the table if Cleveland were interested in breaking up its “core four.”

Also, Garland’s surgery may impact the front office’s approach to Ty Jerome, who will be an unrestricted free agent in July. Coming off the best season of his NBA career, Jerome may be in line for a massive payday. However, his importance to the Cavaliers cannot be denied, especially if Garland is not guaranteed to be healthy when training camp begins.