12:54 pm: Garland will likely miss some time at the start of the 2025/26 season, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
12:32 pm: Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland underwent surgery on Monday to repair the great toe injury that hampered him in the postseason, according to a press release from the team. The procedure was performed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
According to the Cavaliers, Garland’s status will be “updated as appropriate” in approximately four or five months, following a progression of treatment and rehabilitation. While that statement suggests Garland’s availability for the start of the season is in doubt, the team’s announcement also says he’s expected to make a full recovery and resume basketball activities before training camp begins.
Given that those two timelines contradict one another, Garland’s recovery process will be worth monitoring in the coming months. Either way, it sounds like he’ll spend the entire offseason recovering from the procedure and doing rehab work on his toe.
Garland’s injury, which the Cavs referred to as a left great toe sprain, sidelined him for the final two games of the team’s first-round series vs. Miami and the first two games of the second-round series vs. Indiana.
Although he was able to return for Game 3 and played in the final three games of Cleveland’s season, the 25-year-old didn’t look like his usual self, making just 13-of-38 shots from the floor (34.2%), including 3-of-18 three-pointers (16.7%), and racking up as many turnovers as assists (12 apiece).
During the regular season, Garland was a key reason why the Cavs won a conference-high 64 games. He averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists per night with a career-high 47.2% mark on shots from the floor. His 75 games played also represented a career high.
Multiple reports since the Cavs were eliminated have indicated that the club might be more willing than in the past to entertain the idea of trading Garland this offseason. However, Cleveland is unlikely to move him unless the front office can find a deal that improves the roster – or at least doesn’t hurt it – while creating a more favorable cap situation going forward. Extracting that sort of value figures to be more difficult now that Garland is recovering from a surgical procedure.