Darius Garland ruled out Saturday vs. Bulls with eye injury

Friday update: Garland has been formally ruled out for Saturday’s game against the Bulls, which was expected. His eye injury is not serious but the Cavaliers are going to be cautious with their star point guard.

Thursday update: Garland is not going to require surgery on his eye, which is excellent news. The Cavaliers will monitor his status over the coming days but he seems unlikely to play Saturday and Sunday.

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland will not return to Wednesday’s contest against the Toronto Raptors with an eye injury. Garland suffered the injury when he was poked by Gary Trent Jr., who was going for a steal when he hit the Cavaliers guard.

Garland did leave to go to the locker room on his own power, so this likely isn’t a long-term issue for the Cavaliers. However, it’s a tough start to what was a promising season after the team acquired Donovan Mitchell without giving up a key rotation player. Garland, an All-Star last season, was expected to continue growing as a player alongside the newly acquired shooting guard.

With Garland out for the rest of the game, look for Mitchell, Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro to fill out Cleveland’s perimeter minutes. The Cavaliers hold a 57-51 lead over the Raptors at halftime.