The Cleveland Cavaliers need to bolster their backcourt defense. Donovan Mitchell is their leading scorer, and as such, the team isn’t likely to move on from him. Notably, that makes Darius Garland the odd man out in this equation.

Well, this sucks. Out of pretty much nowhere, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that Darius Garland will undergo great toe surgery and miss four-to-five months, which could cause him to miss the beginning of the 2025-26 season. Five months from today would be November 9th, and that would mean Garland misses about two weeks to start the season.

For the third straight year, the Cleveland Cavaliers were bounced early from the NBA Playoffs, this time in a five-game loss to the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers need to figure out what to do with Darius Garland. He’s obviously a very talented player, but they haven’t been able to count on him when it matters most. Now, he’ll be recovering from surgery on his injured toe for most of the offseason.