Cavs’ Darius Garland Out vs. Bulls; Status for Home-Opener TBD

Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland is listed as out for Saturday’s road game vs. the Bulls, and his status for Sunday’s home-opener vs. the Wizards is in doubt.

Garland is still dealing with a lacerated left eye, suffered in the first half of Wednesday’s loss to the Raptors. He stayed back at the hotel and did not practice with the rest of the team in Toronto the following day.

Nor did Garland make the trip to Chicago, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Thursday that Garland’s eye was swollen shut.

Garland suffered the injury in the first half when Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. swiped to steal an inbounds pass, and accidentally got Garland’s eye instead.

Without Garland, the Cavs were unable to hold on to their lead, as the Raptors went on a 13-2 burst late in the fourth quarter in escaping with a 108-105 win. Garland finished the night by playing just 13 minutes and scoring four points.

“It’s tough to see him go down like that in a freak accident,” guard Donovan Mitchell said, via Fedor. “That’s tough. Don’t know the full extent. Don’t have news for y’all. But he’s a fighter and he’s a competitor and he’s going to be back strong. The one thing about this group is we fought and competed. When one man goes down, the next guy is stepping up. I’m proud of the way this group responded.”

Added Bickerstaff, “His head and everything was clear. But he was cut and bleeding pretty bad from the inside of his eyelid.”

For more on the Cavs’ opener, check out the Dribbles right here.

Garland, 22, averaged career-highs of 21.7 points and 8.6 assists last season on his way to making his first All-Star appearance.