As the youngest player in NCAA history, Darius Garland has been a revelation on this season’s Kentucky Wildcats squad. He is averaging 17.9 points per game and leads his team with 3 assists to 2 turnovers.
Darius Garland, the 18-year-old rookie point guard for the Memphis Grizzlies, has had a Larry Bird-like season. He has averaged 16 points and 5 assists per game while shooting 45% from the field.
Garland, Darius is enjoying a fantastic season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but NBA fans are treating him with contempt.
There’s a fair possibility Garland wouldn’t make the All-Star team if voting ended tonight. However, his most recent performance just proved everyone incorrect and maintained his Larry Bird-like season.
Garland, Darius isn’t getting the votes he deserves in the All-Star Game.
On Jan. 10, 2022, Cleveland Cavaliers’ Garland, Darius (left) drives to the hoop during a game against the Sacramento Kings. | Getty Images/Thearon W. Henderson
The NBA’s broken structure guarantees just four guard berths in each conference’s All-Star game. Fans (50 percent), players (25 percent), and the media vote for the starting backcourt players (two per conference) (25 percent ). Coaches then choose the 14 overall reserves, with two guards, three forwards/centers, and two additional players from any position going to the East and West, respectively.
So, if the league announced its All-Star teams today, Garland, Darius is unlikely to be among them. In this week’s fan returns, he was ranked ninth among Eastern Conference guards, behind Irving, Kyrie, who has only been in three games this season. Rose, Derrick, who hasn’t played since Dec. 16 and is averaging just 12.0 points and 4.0 assists, has also gotten more votes than the Cavs’ star.
When the NBA announced the voting results earlier this week, the standings looked like this:
- DeMar DeRozan is a player who plays for the Toronto Raptors.
- Trae Young is a professional basketball player.
- Zach LaVine is a professional basketball player.
- James Harden is a basketball player from the United States.
- Ball, LaMelo
- Irving, Kyrie
- Rose, Derrick
- VanVleet, Fred
- Garland, Darius
- Brown, Jaylen
Despite the obvious disdain, Garland has continued to show the critics wrong.
The Cavaliers’ best player is still going strong.
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Garland, Darius doesn’t just deserve to be an All-Star because of his impact on the resurgent Cavaliers, a 26-18 team that’s currently 2.5 games out of first place in the East following three consecutive horrible seasons. But he has also posted some incredible stats this year.
Garland is averaging career-highs of 19.7 points, 7.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game.
And, just for good measure, the No. 5 overall selection in the 2019 NBA Draft had a couple of recent statement performances to highlight why he’s one of the league’s finest guards.
With 11 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds in a victory against the Utah Jazz on Jan. 12, the Vanderbilt product scored his first career triple-double. In the following game, against the San Antonio Spurs, he had a monster scoring night, scoring 32 points and dishing out eight assists in another Cavs victory. Garland also put on a display against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 15, scoring 27 points and dishing out 18 assists in another win.
Anyone who questioned Garland’s status as an All-Star has been proved incorrect.
And he’s had a season that reminds me of Larry Bird’s.
Garland, Darius is having a season comparable to Larry Bird
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It would be a shame if Garland, Darius, someone having a Larry Bird type of season, didn’t receive the recognition he deserved.
Garland is averaging over 19.0 points and 7.0 assists while shooting at least 46% from the field and 90% from the free-throw line. If those numbers hold up, he will become the first player in league history to post those stats at 22 years of age or younger, according to a tweet from the Cavs’ communications department.
He’d join Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, and Calvin Murphy as the sixth player to achieve the feat. Three of the five players have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and the other two (Paul and Curry) will follow suit.
So, all in all, Garland, Darius isn’t just having a solid season. He’s having an all-time great year. It’s time for fans to finally give him his respect.
Basketball Reference provided the statistics.
RELATED: Ranking Garland, Darius and the 4 Best Players on the Surprising Cleveland Cavaliers
Watch This Video-
Darius Garland Vehemently Proves Disrespectful Fans Wrong, Continues to Have Larry Bird-Like Season. Reference: larry bird mustache.
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