Cavaliers’ Darius Garland admits to losing his ‘joy’ for basketball in 2023-24

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland spent much of the 2023-24 season battling injuries. So much so that it felt like a constant uphill battle for the 24-year-old.

But as the 2024-25 season approaches, Garland is healthy and ready to make a mark for a Cavaliers team hoping to build on last season's trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals. 

Ahead of the new season, Garland sat down for an exclusive interview with Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor and detailed how hard last season was for him. He admitted that he lost his "joy" for basketball while attempting to push through injuries.

“I can still remember that play. I was trying to make strides, trying to take steps in the right direction and trying to get better and then, boom, I literally get hit in my face and it’s back to...square one all over again. That’s what made it so tough last year," Garland told Cleveland.com.

"The momentum was picking up, was getting better every day. We were getting better as a team. I felt like I was starting to learn so much and then…another bump in the road, another year of adversity...I sort of lost my joy for basketball.”

From a scoring standpoint, Garland had been trending upward in the two seasons before 2023-24. The 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons marked noteworthy improvements in his scoring averages, jumping from 12.3 points per game as a rookie and 17.4 points in year two up to 21.7 and 21.6.

While Garland's scoring dipped slightly to 18.0 points per game last season, his shooting percentage and assists dropped last season compared to the previous two years as well. Garland will enter the upcoming season healthy and looking to make an immediate impact alongside All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell.

If both Garland and Mitchell can remain healthy and on the floor together, it'll be interesting to see how high this Cavaliers team's ceiling can be.