The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t have asked for a worse start to the season from a health perspective. They played without four of their five typical starters from last season and were without a key bench
contributor in Sam Merrill in Friday’s game against the Toronto Raptors. No team can be at its best missing that many key contributors for an extended period. Fortunately, one of their missing stars will be coming back soon.
Darius Garland hasn’t played since Game 5 of the second round series against the Indiana Pacers. He was hobbling with a toe injury in the playoffs, which required surgery in the offseason. Garland has been ramping up his on-court activity recently and could be making his season debut shortly.
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“There’s been no setbacks, not even soreness or anything,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said when asked about Garland before Friday’s game.
Garland has been doing more on-court work, which recently included scrimmaging with the Cleveland Charge, the Cavs’ G League affiliate.
“We made sure they got up and down, it wasn’t just drills, that was intentional,” Atkinson said about the scrimmage. “They did some drills, but you know, he hooped. We kept our two-ways back so they could get in a scrimmage with them, make it really [as much like] a game as we possibly can.”
Atkinson wouldn’t commit to whether we could see him as early as the Cavs game against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, but he also didn’t shut it down.
“We’re getting close here, really close.”
