Darius Garland gets an encouraging update on injuries from Kenny Atkinson
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson gave an injury update on Darius Garland and Jaylon Tyson on Saturday before the team meets the Memphis Grizzlies at Rocket Arena.
Garland is shooting again and going through drills with on-court trainers, but hasn’t hit the floor for live 5-on-5 action. Atkinson was there to observe the session.
“He was moving really well, I’ll just put it that way,” Atkinson said. “It didn’t look like anything was slowing him down. It wasn’t 5-on-5, but that was my personal observation.”
“He’s going to shoot again (Saturday), and then we’re going to try to get him going, like 5-on-5, here pretty quickly. It’s kind of a progression, and we’ll gauge where he’s at after that.”
Cavs swingman Jaylon Tyson’s post-concussion status
Tyson, on the other hand, is still in the earliest step NBA concussion protocol. Atkinson said light, supervised cycling will begin on Saturday. There is a strict policy that ensures players go through several stages before they are officially back in the game. If at any point there is a stalemate, the player will go back one step and then have to clear it again.
“There are other standards we have to go over,” Atkinson said. “I wish I could say, ‘Man, he’ll be ready in a week, two weeks.’ I just don’t want to go there yet because there is an evaluation process that goes with it. But I’ll tell you, it’s not like it’s ready in two days. This doesn’t work like that. There are steps he has to take.”
These are two important parts of the Cavs in their own way. Garland is an offensive organizer who brings a different dynamic of ball control and scoring to the fight, while Tyson’s ruthlessness on the glass and defensively it did not go unnoticed.
Based on Atkinson’s comments, it sounds like Garland could surprisingly return before Tyson. It just depends on testing the second-year player in the concussion protocol and whether the Cleveland All-Star feels physically confident after the injury scare.
2025-11-15 21:44:00
