How likely is it that Cavs’ Darius Garland makes an All-NBA team?

Darius Garland is having a career season, making the All-Star roster for Team LeBron, averaging 20 points per game and 8 assists, and leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference nearly 60 games into the season.

Garland has been the heart and soul of the Cavs offense nearly every game so far. He leads the team in points, assists, and steals per game.

However, does Garland have a case for the All-NBA team?

Short answer: yes, Garland has played at an incredible level this season on one of the best teams in the East. Making a case for him is easy, just look at his ridiculous stats for a 22-year-old.

Making one of the teams may be a little bit more difficult, though. The league is very guard-heavy right now, as it has been for a while. A quality point guard is a dime a dozen anymore.

The way the All-NBA teams work is a committee comes together to vote on two guards, two forwards, and a center for all three teams.

Last season ended up with two point guards in the All-NBA First Team in Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic. So it is never guaranteed that a player at each position makes it in the three rosters.

Garland has some pretty significant competition if he wants to make one of the three All-NBA teams.

Other guards are also playing at incredibly high levels this season. Ja Morant and Stephen Curry are both MVP candidates. The best team in the league is headlined by guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker.

Those examples are just in the Western Conference, too, while in the East there are players such as Trae Young, James Harden, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Jimmy Butler.

This is incredible competition to make one of the All-NBA teams, and this is without even including the reigning Western Player of the Week in Doncic, who is coming off of multiple 40-plus-point, near triple-double games.

The odds of Garland making it aren’t great, but they aren’t zero.

What can Garland do to improve his odds of making an All-NBA team?

Garland has played excellently, as stated before, but there are still multiple different areas in which he can still improve.

His scoring total is lower than many players he will be competing with for this honor, making it slightly easier to overlook him in the voting. If he could increase his scoring output by a point or two it may just make him look a little nicer when looking at raw stats.

Garland also has a few weaknesses defensively. Off the ball and grabbing steals are where he likes to wreak havoc for an opposing team. Maybe if he improves his ability to keep ball handling guards out of the paint, he could grab more steals and improve how the voters view him.

The last thing for him to look to improve on is probably the biggest area of his game that needs work. Garland does not take many shots near the rim. Only 16.8 percent of his shot attempts come from within three feet, compared to 41.8 percent of his shots coming from beyond the arc.

Garland could help his consistency, field goal percentage, and scoring totals by getting more looks at the rim. It is understandable that he is only 6-foot-1, but even Stephen Curry (6-foot-2) has taken 22.5 percent of his shots near the rim.

Ultimately, if nothing changes by the end of the season, we probably won’t be seeing Darius Garland representing Cleveland on an All-NBA team. There still is hope though, as the season is only roughly two thirds of the way through and many other stars are going though injuries at the moment.