Darius Garland, the Los Angeles Clippers point guard now half a year removed from the midseason trade that ended his seven-plus years in Cleveland, spoke to HoopsHype exclusively at New Balance's 2026 Beantown Elite Experience, his second time working the camp. Garland discussed the toe injury that quietly derailed his season, what Tyronn Lue's vision for him looks like and more.
Darius Garland: It's like a revamp, really. Coming to a bigger city, a bigger market. It's a lot of weight on your shoulders, like really running a team in Los Angeles. It's a great challenge, great responsibility as well. So I'm super happy just to take that on. Got a little snippet of it last year, but to have a full year under my belt, having a training camp, having some time with T-Lue, I'm super excited about this year.
DG: It's super cool, because I've actually watched him in 2016. I told him I wanted to play a little bit like Kai [Kyrie Irving] and how he played in 2016 in that Finals run. So actually seeing his vision actually work, so trying to implement it into my game, I think it would be pretty cool. It's going to be pretty interesting how he tries to fit it in. But I'm super excited. We've been talking a lot about the offense this year. I'm super excited to get back over there in LA and just be with the team and be with the guys.
DG: I didn't really realize it until it happened as well. So I thought it was just a toe injury. It started off as like a bone bruise at first, like, just kept stubbing my toe in the front of my shoe. And then me thinking it's just a toe, I could just play on it. It just got worse. So I had like some torn ligaments and stuff like that. So I just had to get that reconstructed. But I'm all good now.
It was very frustrating, just because the season I had before, it was really, really good. So I think we could have had a chance of making a run if I didn't get hurt. So that was pretty frustrating. But it's pretty tough just out there playing with nine toes for like half a year. But it's all good, though, because the second half of the year, I had all 10 toes. And I felt really good. I felt like I was getting back to normal. But now, having a full summer, having a full offseason back to 100 percent. It was a mental fog most of the time. Because we're using our toes 24/7. So just out there trying to run on it and play defense, slide, and everything like that. It was pretty tough. Just had to work through it. I get paid to do this stuff. I just wanted to put on my hard hat and go out there and work and do the best I could.
#pretty #garland #good #half
Darius Garland: It's like a revamp, really. Coming to a bigger city, a bigger market. It's a lot of weight on your shoulders, like really running a team in Los Angeles. It's a great challenge, great responsibility as well. So I'm super happy just to take that on. Got a little snippet of it last year, but to have a full year under my belt, having a training camp, having some time with T-Lue, I'm super excited about this year.
DG: It's super cool, because I've actually watched him in 2016. I told him I wanted to play a little bit like Kai [Kyrie Irving] and how he played in 2016 in that Finals run. So actually seeing his vision actually work, so trying to implement it into my game, I think it would be pretty cool. It's going to be pretty interesting how he tries to fit it in. But I'm super excited. We've been talking a lot about the offense this year. I'm super excited to get back over there in LA and just be with the team and be with the guys.
DG: I didn't really realize it until it happened as well. So I thought it was just a toe injury. It started off as like a bone bruise at first, like, just kept stubbing my toe in the front of my shoe. And then me thinking it's just a toe, I could just play on it. It just got worse. So I had like some torn ligaments and stuff like that. So I just had to get that reconstructed. But I'm all good now.
It was very frustrating, just because the season I had before, it was really, really good. So I think we could have had a chance of making a run if I didn't get hurt. So that was pretty frustrating. But it's pretty tough just out there playing with nine toes for like half a year. But it's all good, though, because the second half of the year, I had all 10 toes. And I felt really good. I felt like I was getting back to normal. But now, having a full summer, having a full offseason back to 100 percent. It was a mental fog most of the time. Because we're using our toes 24/7. So just out there trying to run on it and play defense, slide, and everything like that. It was pretty tough. Just had to work through it. I get paid to do this stuff. I just wanted to put on my hard hat and go out there and work and do the best I could.
#pretty #garland #good #half
2 months ago
