Good things don't last forever, and sometimes it works out for all parties involved. Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell were a dynamic offensive backcourt for the Cleveland Cavaliers. From 2023 to 2026, the pair was a plus-6.9 in 3,526 minutes together.
The duo really made magic in the 2025 regular season. The Cavaliers racked up 64 wins and posted the 13th-best offense relative to league average in NBA history. Garland was named an All-Star for the second time. Things were looking up. But the playoffs matter.
Garland only appeared in five playoff games last year, dealing with turf toe. He got surgery on his left foot in the offseason and was expected to miss four to five months. Garland sprained his right big toe in January 2026, and his future in Cleveland was murky.
Cleveland is in win-now mode and traded 26-year-old Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers for 36-year-old James Harden, as Harden is more reliable from a health perspective. That trade is working out for both sides, though it came at the expense of an electric backcourt.
Even though he and Mitchell had massive regular-season success sharing the floor, Garland now has the ball for damn near the whole game, and he's making the most of it.
Darius Garland is the unquestioned lead ball handler in Los Angeles
It speaks to the versatility and adaptability that Garland was able to fit alongside Mitchell. Both are creative offensive guards who impact the game with the ball in their hands. Both can play off the ball, but they were born to run offenses.
Garland's usage rate looks like it did pre-Mitchell. When Garland was named an All-Star for the first time in 2022, he had a 31.3 usage rate per Cleaning the Glass. In 11 games with the Clippers, Garland's 33.6 usage rate would be a career high. He never crossed the 30 usage threshold playing with Mitchell (29.9 in the first year with Mitchell ).
More usage usually means an efficiency dip is coming, but Garland has chosen the other route. With more responsibility comes more efficiency for Garland. 21 points and nearly seven assists per game are Garland's basic counting stats in a Clippers uniform. That's a 3.1-point jump from his 26 Cavs games this year. Unlike his tame points jump, Garland's efficiency/ true shooting percentage has skyrocketed in his 11 Clippers games (57 percent in CLE, 65 percent LA).
After struggling to be dead eye from 3 in Cleveland this year, Garland is shooting an improbable 51 percent from 3 on 7.1 attempts in LA. Serious range plus 10/10 ball control leads to end-of-clock possessions like this.
ARE YOU SERIOUS, DARIUS GARLAND?! 😂 pic.twitter.com/2Amz2QhopD
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 17, 2026
His range and feel for the game allow him to bomb this 35-foot 3 over Victor Webamyama. Why try to attack Wemby when I can comfortably pull from the logo is what Garland was probably thinking. That wasn't a push shot at all. Garland shot that bomb like it was a midrange. With craft and accuracy, he destroys opponents off the dribble.
Two players aren't enough to stop him from range when he has it going.
🚨 DARIUS KINNARD GARLAND FROM THE LOGO AT THE BUZZER 🚨 pic.twitter.com/ShcrNygD4O
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 26, 2026
Kawhi Leonard has to love playing with a dynamite point guard who can light it up from deep. Garland and Kawhi are plus-17.7 in a small sample size together.
That's something LA can build on after this rollercoaster season. Garland's shooting is a major part of LA's future, but his passing and playmaking fit next to Kawhi and other pieces in LA.
Garland does his part in speeding up a slow-paced Clippers team. True floor generals look for every advantage. Garland sees Wemby in a compromised position and signals that it's time to get moving. Small plays like this illustrate why the Clippers are plus-11.9 on offense with Garland on the floor.
Garland extends Kawhi's and the Clippers' window
Who knows what happens with Kawhi and the Aspiration fiassco, but if he remains a Clipper, Garland extends the championship window. Garland and Kawhi alone aren't a championship-level core, but that's a solid foundation.
Kawhi has been performing at a top-five level. We've seen one of one playoff runs from Kawhi, but the shotmaking this regular season exceeds his peak. That type of play from Kawhi with Garland appearing to have found his All-Star stride is good news for LA.
Those two are not redundant. Mitchell and Garland indeed had regular-season success, but they are similar archetypes — small, offensively minded guards with top-tier skill. Garland and Kawhi couldn't be more different.
Kawhi doesn't want to be the lead ball handler. He is perfectly fine playing off the ball like a traditional wing. Kawhi has never exceeded a 30 percent on-ball percentage, and Garland is up to 37.4 for the entire year.
Along with Garland, the emergence of Bennedict Mathurin has Clippers fans elated. He's averaged 20 points and lived at the free-throw line for the Clippers. Mathurin contributed to the Indiana Pacers' Finals run in 2025. He knows how to play playoff basketball in that scorer's role.
Garland is healthy and the man with the ball in his hands in LA. The Clippers started slow and didn't have a typical top-flight Ty Lue defense this year.
The slow start means the Clippers will probably match up with one of the best teams in the West. They may lose in the first round, but Garland opens up something new for them. He's still not in his prime, and they got him for a guard 10 years his senior.
If the Clippers can retool their roster around Kawhi, who's playing arguably the best ball of his career, and Garland, and get back to defending at a high level (four top-10 defenses under Lue), there is no telling what they can accomplish.