Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland’s career timeline

Darius Garland has quickly emerged as one of the NBA’s brightest young stars. At the young age of 23, he has already been an All-Star, and already secured himself a max contract. Even though he’s really talented, there were some dark spots. It wasn’t going to be set in stone that Garland would become an All-Star, and there was reason to be worried about his future.

Garland has been in the league for four seasons after being drafted in the 2019 NBA Draft. He was taken fifth overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers, which has been one of their best draft selections in recent history. Garland was a point guard who played for Vanderbilt, but only played in five games due to a meniscus injury early on in the season.

Even with his injury, Garland played tremendously, and his draft stock was still high. He averaged 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in his five games played for the Commodores. He also shot 53.7 percent from the field, as well as 47.8 percent from beyond the arc. His shifty handles combined with his great shooting touch were his best assets coming into the draft, and still are some of his strongest attributes on the court.

Yes, the sample size was small, but former Cleveland Cavalier guard Kyrie Irving only played 11 games in college, and still went on to be the first overall pick back in the 2011 NBA Draft. Statistically, Garland was incredible at Vanderbilt, and his workouts leading up to the NBA Draft were spectacular.

Darius Garland’s career was never a straight line of progression. There were rough patches, as well as outstanding stretches of basketball. Throughout all of it, Garland has became an NBA star before our very eyes, which is incredible to see.

Here’s how Garland’s career has gone with the Cavs, from his first season to now.

The rookie was a rocky one.