The Cleveland Cavaliers will be knocking on the door of legitimate title contention in the 2025-26 NBA season. To unlock the fullest extent of their ceiling, Darius Garland, not Donovan Mitchell, must be the one with the keys to the offense.
This was something originally pitched by Jason Timpf on a recent episode of his podcast. The show host acknowledged that Mitchell is a great playoff riser. This was about putting everyone into a spot that would maximize skill sets offensively.
Timpf said, "Darius, I would actually argue in terms of just the regular season, is a better offensive engine than Donovan Mitchell because of his ability to consistently cut teams to pieces with his dribble penetration and pass effectively out of it. It really greased the wheels for this Cavs team."
Timpf then highlighted Garland's shortcomings when the postseason arrives, whether that has to do with injuries, or poor play. Still, the overall conclusion was that Garland and Mitchell were primed to be at their best with the former focusing on running the offense, and the latter on scoring.
Cleveland’s title path depends on bold reimagining of Donovan Mitchell-Darius Garland duo
Timpf touched on how much better the Cavaliers offense was in the regular season with Mitchell's role being pushed away from being an offensive engine to primarily a scorer. That much was very true.
The Cavaliers had the top offensive rating in the NBA during the 2024-25 regular season with a mark of 121.0. That coincided with Mitchell having the lowest usage rate of his time in Cleveland, registering 30.9 for the campaign.
That also included Mitchell playing the least minutes per game of his time with the Cavaliers as well, only averaging 31.4 per game during the regular season. Less was more.
Garland enjoyed his highest usage percentage since Mitchell's arrival, at 27.2. That resulted in the highest true shooting percentage, win shares, and value over replacement player during his time in the NBA.
Mitchell is a phenomenal player, one of the best of this decade. However, allowing him to focus on his scoring punch is the path to maximizing the Cavaliers' title hopes. Garland is better suited to feeding all the mouths offensively, including Mitchell himself.
The risk of an injury to Garland derailing the campaign will not go away for the Cavaliers, even if the shifty guard would be asked to do less. That is a wild card Cleveland will ultimately need to deal with in any circumstance. Lining up everyone to thrive, in the meantime, is best for this title hopeful.