Darius Garland injury update: Cavaliers guard's post-surgery recovery timeline revealed by NBA insider

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland ended his season not the way he anticipated it. He suffered a toe injury during the final week of the regular season and aggravated it during the playoffs.

ESPN’s Shams Charania provided an update on Garland’s injury status on Monday.

“Cleveland Cavaliers star Darius Garland underwent surgery to repair great toe injury and will be sidelined approximately 4 to 5 months,” Charania tweeted.

“Garland is likely to miss time to start the 2025-26 season, sources said,” Charania wrote in another tweet. “He was first diagnosed with the injury on March 23 in Utah and managed it to end the regular season before reaggravating and playing through the toe in the playoffs.”

The two-time All-Star underwent successful surgery on Monday. The procedure was performed by Dr. Nicholas Strasser at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Cavaliers announced.

Garland dealt with the toe issue since the final week of the regular season, and worsened during the playoffs. He missed several games, including parts of the series against the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers.

He ended the regular season with averages of 20.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game. Additionally, he shot 47.2%, including 40.1% from the 3-point line.

---

League insider debunks Darius Garland trade rumors

The Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Miami Heat in the opening round of the playoffs. However, their hopes of winning the championship were dashed by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Darius Garland was then rumored to be gaining interest from the Orlando Magic, but it was debunked by league insider Jake Fischer on Sunday.

"For all the noise these days around Darius Garland in Cleveland, we've been reliably told that the Cavaliers and Magic have not held substantive conversations on a Garland deal," Fischer wrote, via The Stein Line. "And that Cleveland has little interest in helping Orlando improve its standing in the Eastern Conference."

While it’s hard to see the Cavaliers trading their star guard to an Eastern Conference rival, anything is possible in the NBA.