Cleveland Cavaliers star Darius Garland underwent surgery to repair a great toe injury and will miss 4-5 months as he recovers from the procedure, the team announced. The expectation is that Garland will make a full recovery and return to basketball activities by the start of training camp. The sixth-year point guard sprained the toe in the first round of the NBA playoffs and missed the ensuing four contests before his return in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said during the playoff series that Garland “desperately wants to get on the court” but that his return to the lineup was contingent on how his toe felt. His playing time dipped and so too did his production over the final three games of the postseason as he shot just 34.2% from the field and 16.7% from beyond the arc following his return.

Garland underwent surgery at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the team announced, and his status will be updated “as appropriate” throughout the offseason.

The 2024-25 season was one of Garland’s best as a pro. He earned his second All-Star selection and enjoyed a career year from the field with a 47.2% shooting clip. The point guard averaged 20.6 points, 7.6 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game on a Cavaliers squad that earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with their 64-18 record, second only in the NBA to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Cavaliers have three more years of control as Garland signed a five-year, $197 million deal with the team prior to the 2023-24 campaign. He is set to earn just shy of $40 million in his age-26 season.

Garland was a lottery pick in the 2019 NBA Draft and went No. 5 overall to the Cavaliers by way of Vanderbilt. The Brentwood, Tenn. native was a McDonald’s All-American and an exciting addition to the Commodores roster, but he played less than three weeks before he sustained a season-ending meniscus injury. He left the program in January of his freshman season to prepare for the draft.