Monday, ESPN NBA Insider Shams Charania broke the news that Cleveland Cavaliers star Darius Garland had undergone surgery to repair an injury in his left big toe that hobbled the guard throughout the club's 2025 NBA Playoff run.
With a recovery timeline of approximately four to five months, Charania noted in his report that the 25-year-old is "likely to miss time to start the 2025-26 season," a quote that, on the surface, may be rather worrisome to the Cavs fan base.
However, in a somewhat ironic way, this news break could actually prove to be a blessing in disguise for Cleveland in the long run, as it may be enough to prevent them from making a huge mistake this summer.
Darius Garland injury news may prevent Cavaliers from executing trade
Since their upset ouster in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Indiana Pacers, the Cavaliers have been heavily intertwined within the league's trade rumor mill. More specifically, Darius Garland has been a name regularly mentioned as a top trade target for this upcoming offseason.
However, even before this update on the point guard's recovery timeline, the proposed deals he was linked to frequently saw rather underwhelming returns for his services.
With his multi-month sidelining now in play, his value is only bound to plummet, thus making a fair deal this summer far less likely.
As a result, the odds of Garland remaining in Ohio next season should officially be on the rise. Frankly, this should be seen as a positive ripple effect for the franchise.
Though there are certainly legitimate concerns about Cleveland encroaching on the dreaded second apron, despite what the sting of two-straight second-round exits may have some believe, this team is still in a win-now mode. Without question, keeping their All-Star point guard in tow gives them their best chance to succeed.
In just one year of playing in the point guard whisperer, Kenny Atkinson's offense, Garland posted his most efficient season to date. He wrapped up the 2024-25 campaign with 20.6 points, 6.7 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 steals on 47.2 percent shooting from the floor and 40.1 percent shooting from deep while seeing a career-high 75 games played.
While he certainly saw his production plummet during the high-stakes postseason, as Charania's report clearly suggests, Garland's toe injury was more severe than originally believed to be.
Quitting on this Cavaliers core following one injury-plagued playoff excursion under a new coaching regime would be an incredibly short-sighted and emotionally-charged move to make this summer.
Let's not forget that this top-seeded team, which won a whopping 64 games in the regular season, saw all three of its cornerstone stars—Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Evan Mobley — sustain some form of injury in the postseason.
Running this big-three back for year two under Atkinson's guidance is undoubtedly the correct course of action this franchise needs to take. Darius Garland's injury update may have secured such a fate for the ball club.