Cavs’ Darius Garland reacts to getting cooked by Trae Young on NBA 2K

It’s almost the first week of September, which means that the newest iteration of everyone’s “beloved” basketball game franchise, NBA 2K25, is set to hit the market. Gameplay footage is making the rounds on social media to give fans a reason to spend their hard-earned money to pick up a copy of the game. But in one such clip, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland received the short end of the stick.

NBA2KLab, an account on X, formerly known as Twitter, that posts clips of the animations found in the game, tweeted out a video of what appears to be a new shot cancel feature for NBA 2K25. This feature allows shifty ballhandlers to cancel their gather to fake out defenders off their shoes. It so happened that the video the account posted showed Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young cancelling a behind-the-back gather to leave the Cavs guard in the dust for an open layup.

At the very least, Darius Garland saw the comedy in the situation. The Cavs guard quoted the post with a rebuttal that made it seem as though he couldn’t believe why he was the one chosen to be on the wrong end of a nasty play.

“Come on bro😂,” Garland wrote on his official X account.

It’s worth mentioning that the animation did not look smooth at all. It looked like the Hawks star already picked up his dribble before beginning another dribble — the textbook definition of a double-dribble infraction. Regardless, the Cavs fanbase on X came to Garland’s defense, saying that he won’t be victimized in real life the way he was in the NBA 2K25 clip.

“You never get cooked like that goat,” wrote @spidasworld on X.

“DG we all know u would 🔒 that bum up,” user @Cleve1andHQ added.

“Damn that’s a Carryyyyy 😭🤣 2K Refs on some trash too,” furthered @LawrenceUSI.

But beyond being torched by Trae Young on the virtual streets, the Cavs guard has a greater reason to use NBA 2K25 as fuel to bounce back following a less-than-ideal 2023-24 campaign.

Dissecting the Cavs starting PG’s NBA 2K25 rating

In what was no surprise, Darius Garland’s rating for NBA 2K25 dropped after a topsy-turvy campaign with the Cavs. Garland endured a plethora of injury woes that limited him to just 57 games, and in those games, his efficiency, relative to prior seasons, dropped along with his overall usage and touches.

Thus, 2K Sports deemed that it was best for them to give the Cavs guard a rating of 82 — a one-rating drop from his 83 in the previous NBA 2K game. This rating is a bit disappointing, however. Garland, according to 2K, is the same quality of player as Josh Hart, Alex Caruso, Jalen Suggs, and Herb Jones — players whom contending teams would love, but don’t have the All-Star pedigree and upside the Cavs guard has.

For reference, Cade Cunningham is four overall points better (86) than Garland. That may not be particularly indicative of the disparity in skill, talent, and impact between those two players.

Nevertheless, the Cavs guard, being only 24 years of age, has time to redeem himself after a down year. With a new head coach in Kenny Atkinson in town, perhaps Garland regains his comfort as he lines up alongside Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt. And if he improves in real life, then his NBA 2K25 rating should reflect that sooner than later.