Numbers could dip in ’23, but Cavs’ Darius Garland now has full command

It wasn’t necessarily a complete shock, but Darius Garland‘s third season for the Cleveland Cavaliers was still a bit of a surprise, to me at least.

Garland had a very encouraging second season after a fairly underwhelming first year, and in his third year, he represented the then-hometown Cavaliers in the All-Star Game for Team LeBron, alongside Cleveland teammate Jarrett Allen.

In the 2021-22 campaign, Garland had 21.7 points and 8.6 assists per contest, which was a heck of a follow-up to his bounce-back Year 2, when he had 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per game.

Garland was undoubtedly one of the crucial reasons that the Cavaliers turned a corner this season, and by the looks of it, he appears to be one of the NBA’s emerging young stars that’s just getting started. Garland also finished third in the voting for league’s Most Improved Player award, which was no small feat.

It was unfortunate that the Cavs didn’t close out the regular season well, and with them losing both of their play-in opportunities, they missed out on the postseason. Cleveland’s late-season slide was partially because of injuries, in fairness, but the year, overall, was a success for the Wine and Gold, as they did have 44 wins, and took noticeable strides.

In regards to next season’s outlook, I would imagine we’ll see Garland follow up his third year All-Star breakout with another impressive campaign. There could be a dip in overall production from him, with others involved, however, he should be primed for another big year.

As far as the overarching impact, we should see Garland take full command of this team, too, and it looks to stay that way from here.

We could see some of a production dip for Garland next season, but he’ll have full command as the Cavs’ primary leader from here.

I’m not suggesting that Garland will have a sizable decrease in production or anything. I just would anticipate that with Collin Sexton likely back, Evan Mobley hopefully taking a step forward, and with guys such as Lauri Markkanen and Kevin Love more comfortable in their role adjustments, it can ease the burden on Garland somewhat.

Along with those players, while one could foresee him being a potential trade piece, and the Cavs will know early on if he can stick, Caris LeVert could help alleviate some pressure on Garland, theoretically, with an offseason with the team.

Plus, the Cavaliers are reportedly seeking some legitimate backup point guard help, and a potential Ricky Rubio return has long been a rumored possibility, and guys such as Delon Wright and Tyus Jones have been linked to Cleveland. Rubio’s ACL tear recovery makes the outlook with him a bit dicey, though he could bring another element to the Cavaliers upon being fully back, I’d imagine more so in the second half of next season.

The gist is, it seems clear that hopefully with more consistent help around Garland, and I do believe that’ll play out if the team can be reasonably healthy and add one or two functional rotational pieces, that there should be less onus on DG. In the closing stretch of the season and in some other instances, injuries put a huge burden on Garland.

I don’t personally foresee that nearly being as much next year, if Sexton can gradually get back to his play style, provided he recovers fully, and with a potential backup point guard add and/or more comfortability for the bigs, those factors should help Garland and the team.

Now, I could definitely foresee Garland making his second All-Star Game, if the Cavaliers can build on this last season, and he again makes his presence felt the way he’s capable of as an emerging young star playmaker and scorer.

But overall, I think part of the next step for Garland is taking full command of the Wine and Gold as the primary leader of the squad, which it seems is starting to happen anyway, and this next season, that should be clarified. He did take steps forward as a leader in Year 3, too, and he’ll continue to build on that.

Garland’s skill set and balance between scoring and playmaking, his demeanor in-game, his charisma and his continued maturity heading into his fourth season all factor into him realistically taking ownership of the team from here, and I believe that’s crucial for the team moving forward to keep ascending.

As the engine of the team on offense, Garland should have full command of the group. He’s still a very young dude, however, it’s clear that other guys feed off him, and even at only 22, he’s more than capable of leading this team as they look to contend for years to come.

I trust in Garland, and I’m sure the Cavaliers, who have been rumored to likely extend him via max deal this offseason, do as well.