The Cleveland Cavaliers have provided an injury update for two-time All-Star Darius Garland.
“Cavaliers guard Darius Garland injured his right great toe on January 14 at Philadelphia. Further evaluation and imaging at Cleveland Clinic Sports Medicine on Saturday revealed a Grade 1 right great toe sprain. Garland will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days. During that evaluation period, Garland will undergo a series of treatments and rehabilitation, and his status will be updated as appropriate.”
Via
Cavs on X
This is not the same toe that Garland previously injured last season (which required surgery in the summer) and then re-aggravated earlier this season. Instead, Garland is now rehabbing a separate injury on his other foot.
We’d expect the Cavs to be cautious with this injury, considering what happened last year. Garland rushed back for the NBA Playoffs and seemingly only made his injury worse. The Cavs would like to avoid repeating that outcome and having another injury progress to needing surgery.
Assuming Garland is out for the next 10 days, that means he will miss games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings, Orlando Magic (twice), and Los Angeles Lakers.
There’s never a good time to lose your All-Star point guard, but this current stretch isn’t the most ideal. Cleveland has just been finding its groove with big wins over the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, they face a daunting week of basketball without one of their most important players.
The Cavs also gave updates on other players. Kenny Atkinson said that he doesn’t expect Sam Merrill to be out much longer, Max Strus was on the court for a workout after practice, and Dean Wade was available to practice and could suit up against the Thunder tomorrow.
Cleveland is 24-19 and will need big-time performances from Craig Porter Jr., Lonzo Ball, and possibly even Tyrese Proctor to make up for the momentary loss of Garland.
