Darius Garland is making a run at all sorts of Cleveland Cavaliers records.
It is easy to forget, but Garland has played a lot of basketball for the Cavaliers. Now in his sixth season, the former Vanderbilt guard has logged 344 games for the franchise. Collin Sexton only played 218 before he was traded.
In fact, only 18 players have suited up for at least 344 regular season games in Cleveland Cavaliers franchise history. Soon that list will shrink as Garland continues to take the court. Kyrie Irving had 381 appearances before asking out; Garland could pass him by the end of this season. He is already entrenching himself as one of the all-time Cavaliers players.
It is no wonder, then, that in one of his best skills he is flying up the franchise leaderboard.
Darius Garland is nailing 3-pointers
Through those aforementioned 344 games, Darius Garland has hit 796 3-pointers. That may seem like a lot, and it is; Michael Jordan, for example, only had 581 for his career. One of the best shooters in NBA history, Larry Bird, had just 649. The space and style of the modern game combined with increased skill and repitition in shooting 3-pointers from the current generations of players has led to a significantly higher volume of outside shots.
To be clear, however, Garland's prolific outside shooting is not merely a symptom of the era in which he plays; he is also a sublime shooter. He has hit 39 percent of his career 3-pointers and is shooting 42.9 percent this season. His career free-throw shooting percentage is a robust 87 percent. He is a player who stands out even in an age of shooting because of his comfort level shooting the basketball.
To wit, Garland has reached 796 triples in 344 career games. That is first-place in Cleveland Cavaliers franchise history by a mile. In his first 344 games for the franchise, Irving hit 627 3-pointers for the second-fastest rate. Cedi Osman ranks third with 538. By Mark Price in 6th place with 397 triples in his first 344 games, you are already as close to 0 as to Garland in first.
Garland's prolific shooting stands out even when you zoom out to the entire NBA. In the history of the NBA across all teams, only 30 players have hit at least 700 3-pointers in the first 344 games of their career. On that list, Garland ranks 17th all-time, behind a plethora of sharpshooting modern players. In fact, all but one of those 30 players was an active player last season.
Darius Garland is about to pass Mark Price
One of the most beloved Cleveland Cavaliers players of all time is Mark Price. In an era of basketball when the 3-pointer was seen as something of a novelty, Price was one of the very first elite shooters. A point guard who was a ball-handling maven and good at a lot of things, his best skill was his shooting.
Three separate times Mark Price led the entire NBA in free-throw shooting, and his career mark of 90.4 percent ranks third all-time behind only Steve Nash and Stephen Curry; that's delightful company to make. Price was also the all-time leader in franchise 3-pointers for a very long time, reaching 802 in his career.
Now Garland is poised to overtake him, just six behind in the franchise accounting with 796. At his current averages he will likely need three games to pass him, but Garland has hit as many as seven 3-pointers in a game this season and his career-high is 10, so he could break it as soon as Thursday night.
Kevin Love is the next boss for Garland to face as he climbs the franchise mountain, waiting in second-place with 1,096 long-balls. Given his current volume it will probably take another 125 games or so for Garland to overtake Love, which will likely come early in the 2026-27 season. Then it's on to face LeBron James and his 1,251. That record should be Garland's to own as long as he stays with the team, and probably before he is 30 years old.