2 goals for Cavs’ Darius Garland in the 2022-23 season

Goal #2: Make an All-NBA team

When you start to take a look at Garland’s career path thus far, it’s kind of similar to the Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young, who was drafted a year before DG in 2018. Young had a huge second-year leap after his rookie year. During his sophomore campaign in the NBA he bumped his scoring average from 19.1 points per game, to 29.6 points per game in 2019-2020. While Garland didn’t make that big of a leap, he became a the clear focal point of the Cavaliers offense after a big third-year leap.

To solidify yourself as one of the best 15 players in the league, you have to be selected to an All-NBA team, and based on this past year, while it’d be lofty to reach that, I do believe Garland could make that happen. With an improved Evan Mobley, defensive rim-protector Jarrett Allen, and the three-point shooting of Kevin Love, Lauri Markkanen, and perhaps Agbaji, the Cavs can be a threat in the Eastern Conference very soon.

Trae Young was selected to his first All-NBA team this past season, being a member of the Third Team All-NBA. Like I said Garland’s career arc has kind of followed Young’s. You could argue that the young talent around Garland is better than the Hawks had, before trading for Dejounte Murray this offseason. With a new boost of confidence, Darius Garland should be in the running for an All-NBA team, however, if he doesn’t make one, he could still be a top-15 player in the league in the near future.

Setting two lofty goals for Garland’s 2022-2023 season, should only help him become a better player. With Evan Mobley improving his offensive game this summer hopefully, and the addition of Ochai Agbaji, the Cavs will have plenty of scorers, but, it’s going to need Garland to get the engine going.

So even though it took Trae Young four seasons to make an All-NBA team, with Garland’s playmaking ability, finishing at the rim, and overall game, it’s very possible Garland could be one of those prestigious 15 players this year.