AS THE MOST important offseason of his career came to an end, Darius Garland took a break, heading to New York for Fashion Week in early September. Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman, a Brooklyn native, happened to be visiting his hometown and reached out to the guard to set up an informal meeting.
The Cavaliers' business during a busy summer -- headlined by the hiring of coach Kenny Atkinson and signing perennial All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to a three-year, $150 million contract extension -- had been handled a couple of months earlier.
Despite much anticipation around the NBA, Altman never entertained the possibility of exploring Garland's value in the trade market. Nor did Garland ever indicate a desire to leave Cleveland, contrary to the rumors that swirled in league circles that he hoped to step out of Mitchell's shadow.
While the possibility of a Garland trade was a frequent discussion point in the weeks following the Cavaliers' second-round playoff exit, it didn't amount to much more than white noise to him.
"It crossed my mind. Like just literally crossed it for like five seconds," Garland told ESPN when asked if he ever considered leaving his lone NBA franchise. "But I really love this group, man. It's like a real brotherhood. We've been together for three years now, four years now, and I really want to win here.
"I think this group has the opportunity to do something special and bring a championship back to Cleveland. And that's what I want to do."
It's a reasonable goal for the Cavaliers, who have the NBA's best record at 48-10 entering Friday night's road game against the defending champion Boston Celtics (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). And in the wake of what Garland readily admits was a personally disappointing season -- when he dealt with the tragedy of his grandmother's death and the difficulty of returning from a broken jaw that had to be wired shut -- the guard has been a driving force in Cleveland's success, averaging 21.3 points and 6.7 assists during the best shooting season of his career, earning his second All-Star bid.
"He's looking like his old self again," said center Jarrett Allen, who is tethered to Garland in the Cavaliers' rotation.
Garland stressed his commitment to the Cavaliers when he got together with Altman a few weeks before training camp began. Altman emphasized that the franchise's belief never wavered in Garland, the original member of Cleveland's "Core Four" that also features big men Allen and Evan Mobley.
Altman was building on the message that Atkinson delivered when he visited Garland in Nashville, Tennessee, soon after accepting the job. It was a very intentional indication of Garland's importance by Atkinson, who had spent the previous three seasons as a Golden State Warriors assistant coach.
They discussed strategy, such as some of the ways the Warriors utilized Stephen Curry that Atkinson thought would benefit Garland. Despite the external discussion about whether the "Core Four" had fit issues, Atkinson made it apparent that he viewed Garland as a focal piece for years to come, along with the Cavaliers' other three foundational pieces.
"There's nothing wrong with reassurance," Rich Paul, the Klutch Sports CEO who represents Garland, told ESPN. "I thought Kenny was reading the room properly to make the effort to do so, because they have a great unit, and they have a group of guys that all like each other. On a professional team, that's not necessarily always the case."
FIVE YEARS EARLIER, Altman had selected Garland with the No. 5 pick in the 2019 draft despite having only 4½ games of film to study from his freshman year at Vanderbilt, as a knee injury cut short his lone college season. It was a bet on the talent of a four-time state champion in high school who had wowed the Cavaliers' brass with his skill in a private workout.
That gamble in Garland paid off. He emerged as an All-Star as a 22-year-old in 2021-22, when he averaged 21.7 points and 8.6 assists as the young leader of a team that doubled its win total from the previous season, emboldening the front office to pull off a blockbuster trade for Mitchell in an attempt to expedite the process of building a contender in Cleveland. Garland put up similar numbers in his first campaign playing alongside Mitchell before his production dipped last season (18.0 PPG, 6.5 APG).
"He wanted to get back to an All-Star level and that was our job to help him get back there," Altman told ESPN. "It was our job to help him with the staff that was going to empower him again. But never once did Darius ever ask out, never once did Darius have an issue with Donovan, and never once did he have an issue with the organization.
"His issue was, like, how do I get back? I know I'm one of the best players in the league, one of the best guards in the league. How do I get back?"
Garland's summer started with the sour taste of a poor playoff performance in his mouth. He shot only 4-of-17 from the floor in an elimination loss to the Celtics.
Throughout the second-round series, Boston's big, physical perimeter defenders bullied Garland. His weight had dropped into the low 170s, about 20 pounds lower than normal, during the six weeks he spent sucking food through a straw while his jaw was wired shut after fracturing it during a Jan. 14 collision with Boston's Kristaps Porzingis.
"I'm getting beat up and getting pushed around out there," Garland said. "I didn't really feel like myself."
Garland's offseason priority was filling out his physique again, not finding an escape route.
"I wasn't really too focused on all the trade talks and a lot of people saying all the other stuff about me," Garland said. "Last year was just a tough year for myself, so I got away. I went out to L.A. just by myself almost damn near and just really locked in on my craft.
"It really helped me just mentally and physically to just get a clear mind, not try to worry about what all the other people are saying and Twitter fingers. Just trying to work on myself and try to get back to where I was before."
It's an approach that added to the immense respect for Garland inside the Cavaliers' locker room.
"In an era or day and age where so many kids push for different things to happen, to get a new start, he put his head down and grinded every single day this summer to come back and be prepared for what was coming forward," former Cavs forward Georges Niang, who was traded to the Atlanta Hawks at the deadline, told ESPN. "I'm happy for him because he deserves it. Because when he could have quit, he didn't. And he doubled down on his process and worked it through where a lot of kids his age could have easily been like, 'You know what? This isn't for me. I want to go somewhere else where it's easier.' And that's not the kind of kid that he is."
Mitchell could relate to how Garland felt after a disappointing playoff performance. He still winces when he recalls his second postseason, when he shot 32.1% from the floor while the Houston Rockets eliminated his Utah Jazz in five games. He vividly recalls being "locked up" by rugged Rockets defenders Eric Gordon, Luc Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza.
"I think when you're a young guy, you have to go through that season," Mitchell said. "Everybody, every person will tell you they've had that season in their career, and it changes you. It changes you for the better.
"I think everybody goes through that pivotal moment in their career. I don't want to say he failed. He just hasn't had as much success as he had really wanted in this situation. He fell short of that in his eyes, but also in everybody else's. So now you come back and respond in this way. I think it's perfect."
MANY SCOUTS, COACHES and executives with other teams suspected that a second-round exit was the ceiling for a Cleveland squad built around a pair of smallish, ball-dominant guards.
There was also rampant speculation that Garland wanted the opportunity to be the unquestioned primary ball handler, which would have required being traded after Mitchell agreed to the extension. But none of that was generated by Garland.
"Look, this is a young guy who could easily be like, 'Nah, this is my [team]. Who are you?'" Mitchell said. "And for him to be egoless and be able to take that step back, you enjoy playing with that. You want to build with that. You want to work with that on a day-to-day basis where it becomes selfless."
Mitchell's body paid a toll for carrying such a heavy offensive burden last season. A variety of injuries limited him to 55 games during the regular season, and Mitchell missed the Cavaliers' final two playoff games due to a calf strain.
Mitchell recognized that for the Cavaliers to become legitimate contenders, the 25-year-old Garland needed to return to his All-Star form. Mobley, 23, had to have a breakout campaign, which Mitchell and Garland agree has been the biggest catalyst to Cleveland's leap. Mitchell had to be willing to have the ball in his hands less often to empower his costars.
Mitchell leads the Cavaliers with 24.0 points per game, but that's his lowest scoring average since 2019-20, when he made the first of six straight All-Star appearances. His 31.1 minutes per game is a career low, which he hopes will help him have fresh legs for a deep playoff run.
"My numbers going down? Whatever. But that took time," Mitchell said, acknowledging that he would have struggled to accept a statistical dip earlier in his career.
Garland credits Mitchell's sacrifice for setting the cultural tone in Cleveland this season.
"I really tip my hat off to Don," Garland said. "He can be ultra-aggressive and go out there and get 30 whenever he wants to, but he really believes in us. That's why I told him when he first got here: 'Just trust us.'"
It's a trust that has been formed over the past few years and strengthened over the summer. Mitchell visited Garland in Los Angeles early in the offseason so they could work out together. Garland made a trip to Mitchell's summer base in Miami later for a couple more days of joint sessions. And they've studied film, often with Atkinson, to figure out how they could enhance each other's games instead of getting caught up in taking turns operating with the ball.
"It's one thing to be great talents, but it's another thing to be great dudes," Paul said. "When you got two ball-dominant players, they have to get a rhythm. In any relationship it takes the effort, no matter if it's personal or business. It takes the effort to stay consistently successful. Those two guys have come out, checked their egos at the door and it's really shown that, 'Hey, this thing could work now.'"