Darius Garland cocked his head to the side, took a second, considered.
A statement had been presented to him and discussed with several of his teammates earlier in the day, at morning shootaround ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season opener one year ago — a binary proposition capping a conversation about the growth of Garland’s game:
True or false: DG’s the most underrated player in the NBA.
It’s a statement born of understandable but frustrating circumstances. Line up next to a perennial All-NBA candidate with a megawatt game like Donovan Mitchell, and people might not necessarily remember that Garland has an All-Star selection, too (and arguably got snubbed for a second the following season).