The Cleveland Cavaliers are gearing up for what should be an exciting 2024-25 season. The Cavs are bringing back one of the most talented young lineups in the league which includes sixth-year guard Darius Garland. Garland did not have his best year in 2023-24, but he is on a mission to prove those who doubt him wrong.
Garland expressed a blunt message when asked about his priority going into the upcoming campaign:
“That I’m better than last year,” Garland said, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “First and foremost, I just want to stay healthy and get back to being myself, playing with that joy again and doing the things that I’m used to doing. Hopefully have an All-Star, All-NBA type of season and try to help this team win as many games as possible like I know I can.”
Darius Garland comes off a “down” year with averages of 18.0 points and 6.5 assists on a 37.1 percent three-point shooting percentage. Nevertheless, he matched his career-high steals mark at 1.3 per game. During the 2022-23 season, Garland had averaged 21.6 points, 7.8 assists, and 1.2 steals on a career-best 41.0 percent.
The former 2019 fifth-overall pick made the NBA All-Star team during the 2021-22 season, where he experienced his breakout. Garland averaged a career-high 21.7 points, 8.6 assists, and 1.3 steals on 38.3 percent shooting from deep range.
Garland knows what is capable of and wants to do everything he can to help the Cavs thrive in 2024-25. His take on Kenny Atkinson’s offensive schemes should aid his efforts.
“I think [Atkinson’s diversifying of offensive sets] will be good for us. We have a lot of talent on this team, so different off-ball actions, different screen actions to just get defenders moving and shifting is going to help us just trying to get downhill and make plays for others. So, I think it’s going to be good just to move the ball side to side and get defenses shifted,” Garland said, per Spencer Davies.
It will be exciting to see how Garland fares in the new system in 2024-25.
