Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson provided the latest injury updates on Darius Garland and Jaylon Tyson on Saturday before the team's meeting with the Memphis Grizzlies at Rocket Arena.
Garland is shooting and going through workouts with coaches on the court again, but hasn't gotten on the floor for live 5-on-5 action. Atkinson was there to observe the session.
“He was moving really well, I'll just put it that way,” Atkinson said. “Didn't seem like there was anything that was slowing him down. It wasn't a 5-on-5, but that was my personal observation.
“He'll shoot again [Saturday], and then we're gonna try to get him a run, like a 5-on-5, here pretty soon. That's kind of the progression, and we'll evaluate where he's at after that.”
Cavs swingman Jaylon Tyson's status after suffering concussion
Tyson, on the other hand, is still in the earliest step of the NBA concussion protocol. Atkinson shared that he'll start light, monitored biking on Saturday. There's a strict policy that ensures players pass several stages before they can officially return to play. If there's a holdup at any point, the player will revert one step and then have to clear it again.
“There are other benchmarks we've got to pass,” Atkinson said. “I wish I could say, ‘Man, in a week he's gonna be ready, two weeks.' I just don't want to go there yet because there's an evaluation process that goes with it. But I'll tell you this, it's not like in two days he's ready. That's not how this works. There's steps he's got to take.”
These are two important Cavs pieces in their own ways. Garland is an offensive organizer who brings a different ball-handling and scoring dynamic to the fray, while Tyson's relentlessness on the glass and on the defensive end has not gone unnoticed.
Based on Atkinson's comments, it sounds as if Garland could surprisingly be back before Tyson. It just depends on the second-year swingman's testing in the concussion protocol and whether Cleveland's All-Star point guard feels physically confident following an injury scare.
