Darius Garland Admits It Took ‘Some Grown Man Conversations’ For Him And Donovan Mitchell To Play Together

February 21, 2025

During an interview with NBA reporter Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, Darius Garland said it took “some grown man conversations” for him and Donovan Mitchell to play together.

Garland and Mitchell are one of the best duos in the NBA.

“Conversations, bro. It’s some grown man conversations that’s been taken on,” Garland said. “And just watching a lot of film together. Trying to figure out where we can help each other out on the court, trying to find different spots where we can both be aggressive in. I mean, it’s just taken a turn from the last couple years where people saying that we couldn’t play together. And now everybody is saying that we’re the best back court in the league.”

The Cavaliers have the best record in the East. They are 45-10.

Garland is averaging 21.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 6.7 assists, while Mitchell is averaging 24.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

Garland and Mitchell made the All-Star team.

“Yeah, just some different things that we could talk about, our differences, our similarities, stuff where we can be better on the basketball floor together,” Garland said.

The Cavaliers are second in the NBA in points per game and first in offensive rating.

“Our camaraderie is pretty good right now,” Garland said. “This group has been together for two to three years now. So our guys are just pretty normal around each other. They have like a really good feel for each other on and off the floor. And so the camaraderie is overwhelming, it’s just putting us over the top.”

The Cavaliers look like legitimate title contenders. They lost to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2024 playoffs, but Garland knew the team was primed for a special season.

“It was really for us just to get better,” Garland said. “I know we didn’t finish as good as we wanted to last year. So we definitely just wanted to be a little bit better than we were. Our main thing is just to keep increasing and just growth in every year. So that’s what we tend to do every year. I mean, that’s what we’re doing now. A lot of people don’t think that we were that good this year or even last year. So now just putting the world on notice and show that we can really be one of those top contending teams, it means a lot to all of us.”