Kenny Atkinson doesn’t expect Darius Garland to be ready by training camp

No member of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ core four was more plagued by injuries in the 2025 NBA Playoffs than floor general Darius Garland.

Thanks to a lingering toe injury, Garland was limited to just five of the Cavaliers’ nine playoff games, and he missed two games in each of the team’s two series before its run came to an end.

Even when Garland was deemed healthy enough to suit up for the Cavaliers, he looked very out of sorts. He shot just 42.0 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from 3-point range in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

Now, Garland is some time removed from getting surgery on his left big toe, and Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson was asked some questions about the guard’s recovery process. Atkinson seems to be happy with the progress Garland has made ahead of the coming 2025-26 season.

“He has approached this really well,” Atkinson told Cleveland.com. “Just focusing on the lifting part since he can’t run. You can see he looks a little stronger out there. It’s good when there is a plan. I was there with the doctor when they talked about the plan. So, when you know the plan and understand what the expectations are, it makes it easier.”

However, he did also make it clear that he doesn’t expect the two-time All-Star to be ready to go for the Cavaliers by the time training camp starts up.

“I don’t,” he said. “That’s not a medical opinion. That’s just my sense of this. Under promise and over deliver. We’re not going to rush or push this. If he is ready, then great. I will rely on (trainer) Steve [Spiro] and Darius to tell me. But I don’t expect that.”

Atkinson indicated that if Garland does indeed miss some time to start the coming season, the Cavaliers will look to make up for his absence from a playmaking standpoint by committee.

“We have Don (Donovan Mitchell),” he said. “We have Lonzo [Ball]. We have CP (Craig Porter Jr.). We are kind of covered. We also have Evan [Mobley], where we can throw it to him in a trail position and have him be a playmaker. I hate that this injury happened to Darius, but it allows you to start figuring out things for the times he is not available. Last year in the playoffs it just hit us and maybe we weren’t as prepared as we could have been. If we have to play games without him, this will allow us to kind of experiment a little and see if we can find playmaking in other places.”

The Cavaliers are hoping that once Garland is feeling up to playing once again, he will be able to give the team the level of production he did back in the 2024-25 regular season. Garland earned the second All-Star nod of his pro career that campaign after he averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists per game across 75 contests.

He was one of just two players in the entire league that season to put up 20-plus points and five-plus assists per contest while shooting 40-plus percent from deep. Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic was the only other player to check all those boxes.

Garland will try to help the Cavaliers get over the hump in the 2026 NBA Playoffs as they chase their second NBA title in franchise history.

Cleveland captured its first title all the way back in 2016, and the team pulled off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history to win it all that year. The squad rallied back from a 3-1 deficit in the championship series to win in seven games.