Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland was assigned and recalled from the G League this week, spending time with the Cleveland Charge to continue his conditioning and get practice reps as he recovers from left great toe surgery.
Since the Cavs were in Detroit and Boston, Garland would've been unable to maintain his return-to-play regimen. He traveled with the wine and gold to New York and participated, but stayed home for Cleveland's back-to-back road games this week.
Garland is full go in a practice setting right now, “scrimmaging and everything,” a league source told ClutchPoints. The Cavs are just being cautious about bringing him into a game setting, and rightfully so. ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel reported that Garland is targeting the first week of November.
“Should Garland be held out for the team's three-game homestand from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5, he will very likely make his return during a six-game homestand starting on Nov. 13. Garland continues to be in the later stages of his injury progression and has ramped up his activities behind the scenes to prepare for game action. He is very close to returning,” Siegel wrote on Oct. 24.
Kenny Atkinson's most recent public update came on Oct. 20, when he admitted that the 25-year-old is ahead of schedule in his rehab.
“I always say it's not return to play, it's return to performance,” Atkinson said. “Like, I just don't want, ‘Hey, guys. Oh, yeah, he's back, and he's shooting 10% from three over his first eight games.' So we got to make sure they return to play, but they're ready to return to perform at a high level.”
The Cavs could use having their All-Star point guard back in the fold, as the offense has had its “clunky” moments during the first week of the season. There have been times when they haven't broken the perimeter or gotten their bigs the ball closer to the basket, instead swinging it around the outside and settling for jumpers.
Garland is a facilitator by nature, setting up two-man games with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in pick-and-roll and spraying out to shooters primed to let it fly.
“He's a guy that puts a lot of pressure on the rim and on the paint,” Atkinson noted in his pregame press conference on Sunday.
