CLEVELAND — Dating back to his days as an NBA prospect, Darius Garland has maintained a relationship with LeBron James.
But when it comes to what the Cleveland Cavaliers are accomplishing without the best player in their franchise's history, Garland admitted that he's excited for his team to be building a reputation of its own.
"Me and [Kevin Love] literally had this conversation a few days ago. Just having our own legacy without having anything with 'Bron to do with it, that would be pretty cool," Garland told Stadium's Shams Charania. "[Not] having a playoff run without 'Bron for that long, that's pretty amazing. And just having the city behind our back. I mean, this city has been waiting for this for a long time. Making the playoffs, that would mean a lot for the city of Cleveland and the Cavs organization."
Entering Wednesday night's matchup with the first-place Chicago Bulls, the Cavs lay claim to a 27-18 record, the fourth-best in the Eastern Conference. After entering the season with an over-under win total of just 27.5 games, Cleveland is currently only 1.5 games of first place of the conference's top seed.
While there's still a lot of basketball to be played this season, the Cavs appear to be in a strong position to make the playoffs without James on their roster for the first time since the 1997-98 season. And a big reason for Cleveland's surprising success this season has been the play of Garland, who could very well be the Cavs' first All-Star since James' free agency departure in 2018.
"Individually, All-Star, that'd be cool," Garland told Charania. "Really, I'm a team guy to be honest with you. Whatever it takes for us to win, I'm going to do it. Trying to get to the playoffs, trying to make a playoff push, hoping for a couple of rounds. We're a young team, so whatever happens, happens. But definitely playoffs this year, that's the goal for sure."