Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James wishes the Cleveland Cavs all the best. After achieving the best start in franchise history, Cavs guard Darius Garland’s 40-point outburst reached James’ territory. Cleveland’s 34-5 record is the best in the NBA and undoubtedly hasn’t been overlooked by James.
The Lakers superstar joined Cleveland natives Travis and Jason Kelce, where James praised the 2024-25 Cavs, per the New Heights Show.
“The Cavs look amazing right now,” James said. “They got an amazing opportunity. I hope they keep it going. They got an opportunity to do something special. I’m glad I was able to put on first, set the trend, and hopefully, we keep it going.”
Last season, the Cavs reached the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since James led Cleveland to the 2018 NBA Finals before joining the Lakers. However, a slew of injuries plagued their best-of-7 series against the Boston Celtics, who they lost 4-1. However, they are on pace to make a deeper run in 2024-25.
All-Star Donovan Mitchell has been stellar, but the emergence of Darius Garland and Evan Mobley has taken the Cavs to another level. Garland is averaging 21.0 points on a career-best 49.8% shooting, including a career-high 42.4% clip from deep. Mobley averages 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game.
With the best record in the NBA, the Cavs could send more than one player to this year’s All-Star Game. In the second fan returns for All-Star voting, Mitchell is second among Eastern Conference guards with roughly 1,181,310 votes, Garland is ninth (238,358), and Mobley is eighth (294,256) among the frontcourt.
On Monday, Garland was named Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference. It’s the second time he’s won the weekly award this season.
Darius Garland’s 40-point game inches him closer to LeBron James
Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
Cavs guard Darius Garland scored 40 points on 14-of-22 shooting, including 4-for-7 from beyond the arc in a 132-126 win against the Raptors. He also finished with nine assists and two steals. However, his 40 points put him in fourth place for the most 40-point games in Cavs franchise history. Trailing LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, Garland, in his sixth season with the Cavs, trails his All-Star teammate, Donovan Mitchell, by nine.
Garland still has a way to crack the top three, led by James (75) and Irving (19), per Stathead’s X, formerly Twitter.
The Cavs defeated the Pacers 127-117 on Tuesday night and will face the Western Conference-leading Thunder on Thursday. The game will be a rematch of last Wednesday’s 129-122 win, which snapped the team’s 15-game win streak.
