Darius Garland just misses Top 5 in list of young guards

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland has seen his stock rise in recent seasons. Garland originally shared time in the Cavs’ backcourt with an incompatible player in Collin Sexton. An injury to Sexton in his final season in Cleveland and his subsequent trade led to Garland playing at the level that everyone was hoping he was capable of.

Now sharing the backcourt with Donovan Mitchell, Garland is thriving, finding himself mentioned as one of the Top-10 guards under the age of 25. Just outside the Top-5 is Garland, according to Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley.

“At 23 years old, Darius Garland has already established himself as one of the Association’s elite offensive initiators. He is one of only five players to average 21 points, seven assists and two three-pointers in each of the past two seasons. Garland is also in the process of upping his efficiency (career-high 58.7 true shooting percentage last season) and improving his decision-making (career-low 13.5 turnover percentage).”

The players ranked ahead of Garland are a pretty impressive group. LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton, Ja Morant, Anthony Edwards, and Luke Doncic make up the top five spots. Grievances can be had with Ball and Haliburton, but the top three are pretty much set in stone.

Darius Garland is still on an upward trajectory and is working on putting the finishing touches on his overall skillset. The Cavs will be a team at least in contention with Garland manning the point for the foreseeable future. Continued development from Evan Mobley will also help, in addition to the Cavs possibly working out an extension with Mitchell.

Cleveland is in good hands with Garland and should be able to make a deeper postseason as soon as this upcoming season.